IH 

iimm 
Hi 

JH 

mm 



am 

IH 

ussis 





What may bo found o I 

Mountain Stream. Mining Town. Spring. Cape and Lighthouse. Vapor ; I 

Mountain Lake. Chute or Shoot. Cafion. Canal and Locks. Mill an | 

Strait. Rain. Railroad Tunnel. Rapids. Gulf or Bay. Mine aifc 

Lakes at different elevations. Village amy 




lire? Point to each. 

i e Ocean. Ocean. Watershed on which is Windmill. Peninsula. Isthmus. 

tjjl. Waterfall. Promontory and Lighthouse. Mountains. Geyser. 

a >use. Channel. Reservoir and Tower near bridge. Volcano. Islands. 

Jli Bridge. Foundries and Manufactories. 



FOR INTERMEDIATE CLASSES. 

POPULAR SCIENCE READER; 

CONTAINING 

LESSONS AND SELECTIONS 

IN 

Natural Philosophy, 

Botany, and 

Natural History,- 

WITH 

BLACKBOARD DRAWING AND WRITTEN EXERCISES. 

/ 

By JAMES MONTEITH, 

AUTHOR OF GEOGRAPHIES, WALL MAPS, A PICTORIAL CHART OF GEOGRAPHY, 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, AND EASY LESSONS IN POPULAR SCIENCE. 



A. S. BARNES & COMPANY, 

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. 



Copyright, 1881, by James Monteith, 



PECULIARITIES OF MONTEITH'S 

POPULAR SCIENCE READERS. 

<3Ub3 



<A<(7 



7 



i. They are a decided departure from the ordinary 

school reader. 

2. Their lessons and selections not only train the voice 

and furnish entertainment as do other readers, but they 
also educate the mind and fill it with valuable and prac- 
tical information. 

3. Their subjects are such as observing and enquiring 

pupils are most interested in ; they are of great range, 
and are short and varied ; they tell of things in the air and 
in the water, on the land and under its surface, animate 
and inanimate. 

4. Their Style of presentation is such as will attract atten- 

tion and lead the young learners to further research and 
fuller investigation. 

5. They discard wholly all stories that are overdrawn or 

grotesque and which tend to intoxicate the imagination 
or dwarf the intellect. 

6. They do not admit exciting narratives which make 

heroes of men and boys for some bloody encounter, horri- 
ble atrocity, or revolting crime or habit, as if to say to the 
young, Go and do likewise ! 

7. But they do seek, by presenting a number of easy and 

interesting chapters on natural science and natural his- 
tory, and by supplementing each with appropriate selec- 
tions in prose and poetry by celebrated authors, to lift the 
thoughts and aspirations of young readers to a higher 
plane. 

8. Industry, bravery, perseverance, nobleness, self- 

sacrifice, dignity of labor, devotion and filial affection, all 
have their exponents in these new books. 

9. The illustrations are more numerous and instructive 

than those of any other school reader. 
10. Valuable foot-notes with short sketches of the authors 
and the pronunciation of words are found on nearly every 
page. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

What is Noble? Poem Swain 7 

About the World we Live in 9 

The Wind, Mists, and Daybreak. Poem Longfellow 18 

The Ocean, Its Uses and Dangers 19 

Whales and Other Marine Animals, Fishes. Etc 26 

A Tempest at Sea 38 

A Rain-Dream. Poem Bryant 41 

Three Fishers Went Sailing. Poem Kingsley 43 

Cod Fishing and Seal Catching Earl of Dunraven. 44 

A Ship in a Storm A rchbishoj> Hughes 49 

Snow Flakes. Poem 52 

The Voice of the Wind. Poem Miss Procter 53 

The Missing Ship 55 

The Lost Steamship. Poem Mrs. Sigourney 56 

All's Well. Poem 58 

The Brave Pilot Gough 59 

Little Mable with Face Against the Pane. Poem . .Aldrich 61 

About Lighthouses 65 

The Lighthouse. Poem Longfellow 66 

The Story of Eddystone Lighthouse 67 

Ocean Currents, Gulf Stream, Etc.; Their Nature and Uses 70 

About Ships, Machinery, Etc 73 

Sea-fight between the Merrimac and Monitor 79 

About Docks, Harbors, Dry-Docks, Etc 80 

About the Zones and Seasons of the Earth 83 

Jack Frost. Poem Hannah T. Gould . 86 

About Rivers, Their Formation and uses 87 

Song of the Brook. Poem Tennyson 98 

The Brook and W"ee Elsie. Poem C. W. Thomson 100 

A Snow-Flake. Poem Aldrich 101 

The Lumbermen. Poem U'hittier 102 

Scene at Niagara Falls Tarson 104 

The Water-Mill. Poem McCallujn 107 

About Windmills 109 

Dangers of a Torrent Miss Bird 112 

About Wells, Springs, Etc 115 

About Capes, Islands, and Tunnels 121 

Canals ; How Constructed and L'sed 125 

A Brave Boy Prevents a Destructive Over- 
flow. Poem Phebe Cary 130 

Aqueducts and Bridges; Their Construction and Uses 136 

Adventure and Devotion of a Boy at the 

Natural Bridge Burritt 142 

Balloons; Their Construction, Uses, and Dangers 149 

A Trip in a Balloon ; .. 152 



vi Contents. 

PAGE 

Trees and Plants; Their Growth and Uses; Roots, Leaves, Seeds. . 156 

The Corn Song. Poem Whittier 197 

The Violet's Complaint. Poem N. Y. Observer 199 

Death of the Flowers. Poem Bryant 201 

In the Woods ; Hunting Adventures Dunraven 203 

Mining ; Coal, Iron, Gold, Silver, Etc 211 

Salt ; How Obtained 220 

Copper, Tin, Zinc, Brass 222 

Dangers in the Mines 224 

A Descent into a Mine 226 

Flint and Steel. Poem Saxe 228 

The Coal Mine ; How Coal was Formed 229 

Eureka! I Have Found It 230 

About Mountains and Volcanoes 232 

Eruption of Vesuvius 235 

The Destruction of Pompeii Bulwer 236 

Uses of Mountains T. Starr King 245 

Earthquake in Scio, 1881 247 

Birds ; Their Habits, Homes, Etc 249 

A Naturalist Among Birds; Their Affection, 

Bravery, Perseverance, Joy, Sagacity Edward. 266 

Notes on Birds 277 

The Waterfowl. Poem Bryant 279 

Robert of Lincoln. Poem Bryant 282 

Hospitality of Birds 283 

Scatter Your Crumbs. Poem 285 

A Noble Boy and His Faithful Bird N. Y. Observer.... 286 

Writing Lesson on Birds 291 

Quadrupeds; Their Peculiarities and Usefulness 292 

A Gorilla Hunt Du Chaillu 299 

Writing Lesson on Animals 316 

Adventure with Wolves 318 

The Blind Man and His Dog 322 

Homes and Comparative Size of Animals, Birds and Reptiles 325 

The White Elephant Vincent 333 

Adventures in Africa Stanley 336 

A Lion Hunt Stanley 337 

The Kangaroo 338 

The Dogs of Constantinople De A micis 339 

Insects ; Their Nature and Usefulness 341 

Perseverance Taught by a Spider 354 

King Solomon and the Bees 356 

Spelling and Pronunciation 358 



LESSONS $ND READINGS. 



I. WHAT IS NOBLE? 




;|HAT is noble ? — To inherit 

Wealth, estate, and proud degree ?- 
There must be some other merit 
Higher yet than these for me ! — 
Something greater far must enter 

Into life's majestic span, 
Fitted to create and center 
True nobility in man. 

What is noble? — 'tis the finer 

Portion of our mind and heart, 
Link'd to something still diviner 

Than mere language can impart : 
Ever prompting — ever seeing 

Some improvement yet to plan ; 
To uplift our fellow being, 

And, like man, to feel for man. 

What is noble ? — Is the sabre 

Nobler than the humble spade? — 
There's a dignity in labor 

Truer than e'er pomp arrayed ! 
He who seeks the Mind's improvement 

Aids the world, in aiding Mind ! 
Every great commanding movement 

Serves not one, but all mankind. 
7 



8 What is Noble? 

O'er the forge's heat and ashes, — 

O'er the engine's 1 iron head,— 
Where the rapid shuttle flashes, 

And the spindle whirls its thread : 
There is labor, lowly tending 

Each requirement of the hour, — 
There is genius, still extending 

Science and its world of power ! 

'Mid the dust, and speed, and clamor 

Of the loom-shed and the mill ; 
'Midst the clink of wheel and hammer, 

Great results are growing still ! 
Though too oft, by fashion's creatures, 

Work and workers may be blamed, 
Commerce need not hide its features, — 

Industry is not ashamed ! 

What is noble ? — That which places 

Truth in its enfranchised 2 will, 
Leaving steps like angel-traces, • 

That mankind may follow still ! 
E'en though scorn's malignant glances 

Prove him poorest of his clan, 
He's the Noble — who advances 

Freedom and the cause of man ! 

Swain. 

Charles Swain, an English poet, born in 1803. He learned the 
business of dyeing, and afterwards became an engraver, then 
author and poet. 

1 Engine's, en'gins. 2 Enfranchised, en-fran'chised. 



^m< 




II. THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. 




F you should take a long walk from the 
city, town, or village in which you live, 
you might see people, houses, streets, 
roads, fields, trees, streams, ponds, mills, fac- 
tories, besides horses, cows, sheep, and other 
animals; perhaps you would see a. part of the 
ocean, on which great ships and steamers sail. 

2. The ocean and fields are parts of the 
earth's surface. People, animals, trees, houses, 
ships, etc., 1 are on the surface. When you see 



1 Etc., etcet'era, and other things. 
9 



I O A ir — Wind— A t traction, 

flies on an orange, you may say they are on its 
surface or outside part, just as people and ani- 
mals are on the surface of the earth, which is 
round like an orange. 

3. When you look upwards and around you, 
you may see the sky, the sun, and, perhaps, 
clouds ; at night, you may see the- moon and 
stars, and other bodies called planets, which 
look like stars. 

4. All this time you are breathing — what ? 
Air. Without air you could not live, nor 
could any animal, bird, or fish, or tree live. 
Sometimes the air is still, sometimes it moves 
gently, and you are able to fly your kite ; then, 
again, it rushes powerfully and fearfully, blowing 
down trees, fences, and houses, and sinking ships. 

5. This we call wind. You feel the air, you 
breathe it, you see the effects of the wind, yet 
you have never seen air or wind. You admit 
that there is air and that there is wind, although 
both are invisible. What does invisible mean ? 
Are houses and trees visible or invisible ? 

6. Now, as the earth is round (or very nearly 
so) like a great ball, and people travel or sail 
around on every part of it, what is it that keeps 
them from falling off from this great ball called 
the earth or the globe ? It is something that is 
both useful and powerful. It is also invisible. 



Attraction. 1 1 

7. When you throw your ball high in the air, 
it is brought back again by something which 
you cannot see, by this other invisible power ; 
without this power your ball would never come 
back to you. 

S. When chestnuts are ripe, and when you 
throw a stone into an apple-tree in the autumn, 
the chestnuts and apples are brought to the 
ground by this same invisible power. Do you 
know what we call it ? Attraction. 

9. Without this attraction which the earth 
has, those chestnuts and apples would be as 
likely to fly away toward the moon or the sun 
or some of the stars ; the farmer could not sow 
his seed, for it would be as likely to fly toward 
the clouds as to fall on the ground ; the carpen- 
ter and the mason would not be able to keep 
their boards and bricks just where they wanted 
them ; the chairs, tables, and beds in your 
houses would be as likely to rest against the 
ceiling as on the floor ; and your sleds would 
no longer rush down hill on the smooth snow 
in winter. 

10. Now, a knowledge of all such things, as 
well as of different countries, mountains, and 
places on the earth, and of the wonderful fitness 
of them for people's enjoyment and welfare, may 
be obtained by studying geography. 



1 2 Up and Down — The Earth ; it is round. 




Blackboard drawing 1 to illustrate Up and Down. The teacher 
may draw by means of a piece of cord twelve inches in 
length a circle to represent the earth. On it mark arrows 
as shown in model, all pointing* to the center, and, conse- 
quently, Downward ; then mark other arrows pointing* from 
the center, or Upward. 

Another circle may be similarly drawn, and on it trees be 
represented all pointing* Upward. The directions to and 
from the center, or down and up, should be clearly explained 
to the class. 

ii. When we look at the sun, moon, and 
stars, we see they are round ; and if there are 
people living on the moon now, they would 
look at this world or earth and see that it too is 
round. 




Blackboard drawing to show Rotundity of the Earth. With 
chalk and a cord two feet long describe an arc as here 
shown. On the left draw a part of the coast of North Amer- 



The Earth ; how it moves. 1 3 

ica, with, a lighthouse on Newfoundland; on the right, 
England, Ireland, and the coasts of Europe and Africa. 
From the top of the lighthouse draw a straight line touch- 
ing the Arc or Surface of the Earth ; then show ships on 
the Atlantic in different positions, one below the horizon, 
another partly above, and another wholly above it. The 
straight line is the Line of Vision to a man in the light- 
house, and the point where that line touches the arc or sur- 
face shows the extent of his Horizon. The lighthouse and 
masts all point from the center of the Earth. 1 

1 2. The earth is larger than the moon, the 
sun is larger than the earth, and some of the 
stars are larger than the sun. 

13. The earth moves around the sun, and the 
moon moves around the earth. 2 

14. If the earth did not move or revolve 
around the sun, we should have no change of 
seasons. 

1 5. The earth has another motion : it turns 
around as a top spins, or as you might turn an 
apple around on a knitting-needle. This kind 
of turning is called rotation, and causes change 
from day to night, and from night to day. 

16. You may see from this picture 3 how day 
and night are caused. The lamp represents the 
sun, and the apple represents the earth. The 
sun gives light to that side of the earth which 
is opposite it, as is shown by the bright side of 

1 Men have proved the earth to be spherical, or round like a ball, by sailing 
around it, and by observing that the hull or body of a distant ship coming 
toward them is not seen as soon as its topmast. 

2 To explain these motions, one of the pupils may represent the sun, another 
walk around him to represent the earth, and a third walk around the second, 
to represent the moon. 

3 Pict'ure, not pik'ter. 



14 Day and Night — The Sun. 

the apple, which represents day. The side turned 
away from the sun is dark — there it is night. 
If the earth did not turn or rotate on its axis 
we would not have night and day as we now 
have them. 




To be drawn on the blackboard to explain the succession of 
Day and Nigrht. The lamp represents the Sun ; the apple, 
the Earth ; the needle on which the apple turns represents 
the Axis of the Earth. 

1 7. When you say the sun rises in the east in 
the morning, 1 it only appears to rise. It is not 
the sun which moves from the east upward and 
nearly over your head, and then down in the 
west in the evening. It only appears to do so. 
It is really the earth, or that part of it on which 
we live, that moves around the other way, to- 
ward the sun in the morning, and away from it 
in the afternoon ; that is, from the west over to 
the east. When you are on a steamboat sail- 

1 Morning, morn'ing, not mornin. 



Tke Sun; what it gives us. 15 

ing swiftly and smoothly, the trees on the shore 
appear to move toward you, then past and be- 
hind you, yet you know it is the steamboat 
that moves — not the trees. 

1 8. Without the sun we should have no heat 
or light. Would we not have wood to burn 
and give us light ? We would not ; for without 
the sun's heat trees would not grow. Would 
we not have the moon to shine for us ? No, 
the moon would not give us light, for it is the 
sun's light on the moon that makes it bright 
and gives us moonlight nights. So, without 
the sun, there would be no light on the earth — 
no plants, trees, animals, birds, fishes, or people. 

19. You have learned how important are the 
sun, air, and attraction. You will soon learn 
about rain, how it depends upon the sun, air, 
and winds, and how they all work together 
beautifully and continually in order that all 
people may have food to eat, water to drink, 
and pleasant places to live in. 

20. Suppose you should start some pleasant 
morning in a balloon that could move all the 
way around the world before dark the same 
day. Of course, that has never been done, for 
the distance is too great, but suppose it could 
be done. What would you see ? Well, you 
would glide over an immense portion of land, 



1 6 Balloon Voyage around the World. 




Inside a flour mill. 

called a continent. On this continent you 
would see mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, 
lakes, farms, and trees. 

21. You might see men at work in the fields, 
others building houses, or bridges, or railroads ; 
some busy in great factories 1 and mills making 
cloth, shoes, flour, tools, wagons, and other things 
too numerous to mention. Here and there you 
would see cities, towns, and villages, and, beyond 
them, houses scattered here and there ; then, 
perhaps, a forest, a wilderness 2 or wild place, 
inhabited only by Indians and wild animals ; 
then, again, beautiful valleys, plains, streams, 
and busy towns; and all at once you might 

1 Factories, fak'to-reez, not fak' trees. 

2 Wilderness, wil'der-nes y not nis. 



Geography. 1 7 

come to a body of water which extends much 
further than your eye could reach. That great 
body of water is an ocean. 

22. In the ocean, dotted here and there, you 
might see islands, which also contain trees, hills, 
lakes, people, birds, animals, etc., all different in 
appearance from any you had seen before ; and 
you would wonder to find that, as you rush so 
rapidly over land and sea, some places have clear 
weather ; others, cloudy ; and still others rainy 
or stormy, all in the same day. 

23. After your return home, which you would 
be sure to reach if your balloon kept in the pre- 
cise course it started out on, you would, prob- 
ably, sit down and write about all the places, 
people, etc., you saw : and, for the instruction 
and pleasure of those boys and girls who were 
unable to take such a voyage, you would, per- 
haps, fill a book with your description : that 
would be geography, 1 which is simply a de- 
scription of the earth's surface. 



1 Geography, ge-og'rah-fe, not gog'rah-fe. 

Questions which the teacher may ask. — Point to the earth's surface : — When 
do you touch it? Is the bottom of a well above or below the earth's surface ? 
Mention something which is above the surface. Point towards the center of the 
earth. Point up— down. Why does an apple fall from a tree to the ground ? 
! Name some of the benefits which we derive from the air,— from the sun,— from 
attraction. 

All words in the lesson printed in heavy, black type indicate that those places 
or objects are illustrated on the chart in front of the book, or are shown on the 
maps in their geographies. 



1 8 Wind — Mists — Daybrea k. 



Ill WIND— MISTS— DAYBREAK. 




WIND came up out of the sea, 
And said, " mists, make room for me!" 



It hailed the ships, and cried, " Sail on, 
Ye mariners, the night is gone." 

And hurried landward far away, 
Crying, " Awake ! it is the day/' 

It said unto the forest, " Shout ! 
Hang all your leafy banners out ! ' % 

It touched the wood-bird's folded wing, 
And said, " O bird, awake and sing! " 

And o'er the farms, " O chant'icleer, 
Your clarion blow ; the day is near! M 

It whispered to the fields of corn, 

u Bow down, and hail the coming morn ! " 

It shouted through the belfry J -tower, 
" Awake, O bell! proclaim the hour." 

It crossed the churchyard with a sigh, 
And said, " Not yet ! in quiet lie." 

Longfellow. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet, born in 
Portland, Maine, in 1807. He graduated from Bowdoin College, 
in which he afterwards became a professor. 

1 Belfry, bil'fre, 




The Ocean. 19 



IV. THE OCEAN. 

jHE Ocean, often called the sea, covers 
three-fourths of the earth's surface. Its 
water is salt and in constant motion. 
In it live countless fishes, and on its surface 
very many ships sail from one country to 
another, carrying people, provisions, clothing, 
and various articles for use or ornament. 

2. The ocean is useful to us not only in fur- 
nishing fish, and as a great highway for sailing 
ships and steamers. There are many boys 
and girls who have never seen the ocean, or 
eaten any of its fish, or seen anything that was 
brought in a ship. Lest they should therefore 
think that the ocean is of no use to them, and 
that it would have been better if the whole sur- 
face of the earth jvere laid out in pretty 1 fields, 
farms, and gardens all over it, they should know 
that without the ocean no man, bird, or animal 
could live on the earth. 

1 Pretty, prlfte, 

Have you ever seen an ocean ? A mountain ? A lake ? A river ? An island ? 

The teacher may ask the pupils to mention the different articles of food which 
people require. If the answer should be bread, then ask : 

What is bread made of, and how ? What is flour ? Wheat ground in the 
mill. Where is wheat obtained ? It is raised on a farm. 

If others answer potatoes (po-ta'toz not tuz), apples, milk, beef, pork, etc., 
ask questions about each, 



20 Rain — Voyage of a Drop of Water. 

3. Animals live mostly upon grass, vegetables, 
or grain of some kind, which grow on the farms 
and in the fields. 

4. The rain waters the fields and farms, 
fills streams, rivers, and lakes, and furnishes 
drink for men and cattle and all creatures 1 that 
live on the earth. When the vapor or moisture 2 
in the air freezes, it falls in the form of snow. 
When the drops of rain freeze before they reach 
the ground, they fall in the form of hail. 

5. From this you may readily understand how 
a certain drop of water may be changed to 
vapor, rise from the ocean, be carried by the 
winds far away and over the land, changed back 
to water, fall on the ground, sink down below 
the surface, find its way to a spring, reappear in 
the overflow, run down a hillside, and become 
part of a rill, rivulet, 3 brook, or other little 
stream. The stream flows on, falls over steep 

1 Creatures, kreet'yoors. 2 Moisture, moist'yoor. 

3 Rivulet, riv'ii-let. 

Would the grass, grain, and vegetables grow without rain ? Where does the 
rain come from ? The clouds. Where do the clouds come from ? The ocean. 
How ? The heat of the sun causes vapor to rise from the ocean, and the wind 
blows the va'por or clouds over the land, and when they rise into high, cool air 
they fall in drops called rain. 

What rises from the ocean ? Va'por. What causes it to rise ? The sun and 
air. What does vapor form ? Clouds. What drives vapor or clouds over the 
land ? The wind. What causes the clouds to return and fall in the form of 
rain? The coldness of the air above us. If you should ascend far above the 
earth's surface in a balloon or by traveling up a high mountain, what difference 
would you find in the air ) We would find it cooler and cooler the higher we 
go- 



Vapor — Rain — Snow — Ice. 21 

places, forming cascades or waterfalls, 
turns mill-wheels, receives other streams, 
becomes deep enough and wide enough to float 
large steamboats, and at last finds its way 
into the ocean. Thus that little drop of water, 
after a long and curious journey, may return 
to the place it started from. 

6. As the land on the earth's surface is higher 
than the ocean, you all know that the water of 
the ocean could not run tip and over the land. 

7. All of you who have seen a kettle 1 or pot 
of water boiling have noticed that something 
white, like smoke, rose from the top of the 
water. It was not smoke, but vapor. Vapor 
is the water so thinned out by heat as to become 
light enough to rise in the air. Have you not 
also seen the inside of windows 2 in cold weather 
all wet with drops ? The vapor coming near 
the cold window is only changed back again to 
water. 

8. If any of you should hold a cold substance, 
such as a pitcher filled with snow, or ice, or 

1 Kettle, keftl not kiftl. 2 Windows, win'doz, not duz. 

Can people live without water? Does the water you drink come from a 
spring, well, lake, reservoir {rez'er-vivor), or river ? From what is the well, 
spring, river, or lake supplied ? Rain. From what does rain come ? From 
what do clouds come ? 

Now, how do the waters which you find on the land, even on very high 
lands, such as springs, rivers, and lakes, get there ? They are formed by rain 
or melting snow. Where do rain and snow come from ? From vapor or clouds. 
Where do vapor and clouds come from ? The ocean. 



22 Evaporation and Condensation. 

cold water, over boiling water, you would see 
the vapor rise, and as soon as it touched the 
cold surface of the pitcher it would be changed 
into drops. That is the way rain is formed. 

9. Now if you should watch the vapor as it 
rises from the ocean, and is carried by the wind 
over the land, you might see it enter the air 
that is cooled by cold mountains. As cool air 
cannot hold as much vapor or moisture as 
warm, dry air, some of the moisture falls in the 
form of rain. That which falls on the land 
waters the fields and farms, and fills the streams 
and lakes. {See chart on pages 2 and 3.) 

10. The ocean then, supplies or fills all the 
lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams ; every drop of 
water on the surface or under the surface of the 
land, on the mountain * top or in the deepest 
valleys ; all the water of the wells and springs ; 
all the moisture which floats in the air ; and all 
rain, snow, hail, or dew. 

1 1. If you should boil a kettle of salt water, 
the vapor passing off would be fresh. This you 

1 Mountain, mount' in, not tane or ton. 

Is the water of the ocean salt or fresh ? Salt. Is the water of rain, lakes, 
rivers, and snow salt or fresh ? Fresh. 

If these are all supplied from the salt ocean, why are they fresh ? Because 
when vapor rises from the ocean, the salt, too heavy to rise, remains behind. 

From what besides the ocean does vapor rise ? From lakes, rivers, ponds, 
and wet ground. 

Does vapor rise from a cup of water ? It does. 



Evaporation a7id Condensation. 23 

may prove by conducting the vapor through a 
tube ! or pipe cold enough to condense or change 
the vapor back again to water ; this water will 
be fresh. 




Drawing- for the blackboard explaining' evaporation and con- 
densation ; also, how fresh water may be procured from salt 
water, by conducting- vapor through a pipe that is kept cold. 

1 2. The changing of water into vapor is called 
evaporation. The changing of vapor into water 
is called condensation. 

13. The words ocean and sea are often used 
to refer to the whole body of salt water on the 
earth, which may be considered as divided into 

1 Tube, tube not toob. 

The teacher may now draw on the blackboard this picture, of a size suffi- 
ciently large to be seen by the whole class ; or, the drawings which enter into 
a certain day's lesson may be previously prepared on the blackboard. 

If you were at sea and without drinking-water, how could you obtain it ? By 
boiling the salt water in a kettle and conducting the vapor into a cold pitcher or 
bowl, or through a pipe kept constantly cold. What becomes of the salt in the 
process of evaporation ? It remains behind in the kettle. 

Suppose that the salt should rise from the ocean with the vapor ; what would 
the rain be, fresh or salt ? If rain were salt, what effect would it have on our 
grass, trees, grain, and flowers? 



H 



A Storm at Sea. 







Dangers on the Ocean. 



*5 



five parts, also called oceans. There are five 
oceans. Their names are Pacific Ocean, 
Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic 
Ocean, Antarctic Ocean. 

14. If you should cross 
the ocean, you would see 
nothing about your ship 
but the water and the 
sky ; and, as the vessel 
would cut through the 
great rolling waves, it 
would go up and down 
like a rocking-chair. In 
a storm, however, the 
waves rise terribly high 
and beat over the ship, 
which tumbles and 
plunges and rolls violently, 1 sometimes nearly 




Signaling for Help. 



1 Violently, zd'o % not vi'a. 

Which of these would you cross in sailing from the United States to Europe? 
Why do steamships and other vessels cross the ocean ? To carry passengers, 
also articles which are grown or manufactured here. 

Do those vessels return empty ? They bring back articles which are raised 
or made in Europe, Asia, or Africa ; they bring passengers also. 

Can you name some things which are sent from this country across the 
Atlantic Ocean ? Flour, wheat, cotton, provisions, oil, and tobacco (to-bak'ko 
not ka or ker). 

Can you mention some articles we receive from Europe? Materials for 
making dresses and all kinds of cloths, besides knives and toys. 

What do ships from South America bring to this country ? Coffee and India- 
rubber. 

What do we get from China and Japan ? Tea, fans, and many fancy articles. 

How long does it take steamships to cross the Atlantic from this country to 
Europe ? About ten days. 



26 Whales ; how Captured. 

covered over with the waves. Then the passen- 
gers must go down stairs or they would be 
washed overboard Besides this there is danger 
of one ship running into another at night or 
against an iceberg, or of the ship taking fire. 

15. To capture whales men spend many 
months on long, cold voyages, and we fre- 
quently hear of ships being crushed by icebergs 
or by fields of ice, and the crews frozen or 
starved to death. All this is for what purpose ? 
To get oil and whalebone from the whale. 
When the whalemen see a whale they hurry out 
of their ship and row in open boats towards 
him, and when near enough, one of the men 
throws a kind of dart or spear, called a harpoon, 
with all his might into the whale. The huge 



Did you ever see a steamship? What is the difference between a steamship 
and a sailing vessel ? 

What is an iceberg ? A great mass of floating ice reaching far above and 
below the surface of the water. Icebergs come from the cold regions of the 
Arctic Ocean and northern parts of North America. 

Do men ever sail into these cold dangerous regions, where they are con- 
stantly surrounded by ice and icebergs? They do. Why? To find a new 
passage across the Arctic Ocean, or to reach the most northerly part of the 
earth, called the North Pole. 

What dangers attend these voyages? Some ships have been crushed by 
fields of ice or by icebergs, and the crews perished from hunger and cold. 
Mention a celebrated English explorer who was lost in the Arctic regions? 
Sir John Franklin. 

In 1845, Sir John Franklin left England with two ships and fine crews, to 
reach Asia (a'she-a) by way of Baffin Bay and the Arctic Ocean. Himself, his 
officers and crew of over 130 men, all perished. 

How do natives and explorers in the Arctic regions travel over the ice and 
snow ? In sledges drawn by dogs. 

What huge animals (often, but improperly, called fish) are captured in the 
water of the cold regions ? Whales. You can know them far off by the two 
fountains or streams of water which they blow into the air. 



Whales ; how Captured. 27 

creature becomes furious, and the men must look 
sharp to keep out of his way and to let out the 
Jong rope which is fastened to the harpoon, else 
their boat may be dashed to pieces or pulled far 
under the water in an instant. 

16. Many whales are killed by means of har- 
poons and bombs fired from cannons which the 
ships carry with them. When a ship arrives in 
the vicinity of a whaling ground, a lookout is 
stationed at the masthead. As soon as a whale 
is discovered, the boats are lowered and each 
crew exerts its utmost strength to reach him 
first. In the bow * sits the harpooner, who at the 
proper moment, seizes the harpoon with one 
hand and the coil of rope with the other ; and 
as he nears or touches the whale, hurls his har- 
poon with all his strength and cries out " Stern 
all." The crew instantly backs the boat, and 
the whale in his terror plunges and dives with 
such velocity, that water must be constantly 
poured upon the rope to keep it from setting 
the boat on fire by its friction. 2 Every time the 
whale rises, which he must do at least once or 
twice every hour in order to breathe, the boats 
rush at him and the men strike him again and 
again with harpoons and lances. 



1 Bow, bou y the prow or forward part of a ship or boat. 

2 Friction, frik'shun, the act or effect of rubbing. 



2 8 Whalebone — Oil — Walrus. 

1 7. After a while the whale dies and floats at 
the top of the water. Then the men jump on 
him and cut out great quantities of the fat which 
is found right under the surface of the skin. 
They afterwards boil the fat, called blubber, 
and make it into oil, which they take home in 
barrels. 1 

18. The whalebone, which is obtained from 
the inside of the upper jaw, is colored and pre- 
pared for use. The whale is always in the water, 
and is the largest of all animals. 

19. There is a very large animal called the 
wal'rus which lives in the Arctic regions and 
is always found on the coast very near the 
water. Walruses are excellent swimmers, but are 
very slow and awkward in their movements on 
shore. When disturbed they make loud roarings. 
Their length is about fifteen feet. They are 
captured for their tusks of ivory, their skin and 
fat. They often have terrific combats with 
white or polar bears. When suspecting an at- 
tack, they designate one or more of their number 
to act as guards while the others sleep. They 
defend themselves bravely, carrying off their 
helpless young or their wounded companions 
with their fore paws. 2 

1 Barrel, bar'rel, not barl, 2 Paws, pawz t not paurz. 



The Seal — Its Uses. 



29 




The Walrus. 



20. There are other animals called seals living 
in or near the water, which are captured in very 
large numbers every year in the cold regions. 

21. The seal is about two yards long. It 
has two fore paws, with which it paddles in the 
water or pulls itself along on the ice or the 
shore. Its hinder 1 limbs serve only to steer 
and scull with. Its head resembles that of a dog. 



1 Hinder, hln'der. 

For what is whalebone useful ? How long do you think a whale is ? The 
larger ones are about 20 to 30 yards long and 10 yards around the body. 

Here show these distances by comparing with your school-house, room, or 
some other object. 

Whales live mostly in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. 

They usually come to the surface of the water about every ten minutes, 
remaining there about two minutes, during which they blow eight or nine times 
and then descend. They feed swimming just below the surface, with their huge 
mouths wide open. Often, the whole length of line let out is more than 1,200 
feet. The thickness of their blubber is from 6 to 24 inches. 

For what are seals captured? Their fur. After the long, coarse hairs are 
plucked out, the soft, short fur is dyed and then made into beautiful coats worn 
mostly by ladies. 

Seals, when in the water, must come to the surface at least every half hour to 
breathe. 



The Seal — Its Uses. 




Seal, 6 feet in length. Porpoise, 6 to 8 feet in length. 

Shark, 12 feet in length. 

Make blackboard drawing of seal and porpoise, each 2 feet long 
by 6 inches wide ; of shark 4 feet long by 10 inches wide. 
The shark is twice as long as the seal, and the whale is five 
times as long as the shark. (One-third of actual length.) 

22. In Greenland, where the cold is too se- 
vere for trees, plants, and fruits to grow as they 
do in our country, many of the people depend 
upon the seal for almost everything : its flesh 
they use for food, of its skin they make their 
clothing, tents, and boats, and its fat furnishes 
them with oil for fuel and light. 

23. The seal is found on coasts and islands in 
many parts of the world, but especially in the 
cold regions. Around Alaska, Greenland, 
and Newfoundland thousands are captured 
every year. 

The seal is amphibious, because it can live in water or on land; it is 
quad'ruped, because it has four paws or legs ; like the whale, it is carnivorous, 
because it eats fish and the flesh of animals ; it is grega'rious, because it lives 
with others, in herds ; it is mi'gra-to-ry, because it moves from one part of the 
ocean to another ; and it is a mam'mal, because it suckles its young. 

Alaska was purchased from Russia by k the United States for seven millions of 
dollars. It is noted for seals and fish,. 



Porpoise — Cod — Mackerel — Herring. 3 1 



124. The different species of the seal include 
the sea-lion, sea-elephant, sea-leopard, sea-bear, 
and the walrus. 
25. The porpoise is very much like the seal. 
It is captured for its oil, 'flesh, and skin. 




Spearing- a Porpoise. Coast of Maine. 



26. Cod, mack'er-el, herring, and halibut are 
caught in immense numbers near the coasts of 
New England, Labrador, and Newfoundland. 
When salted and cured they are exported to 
nearly every part of the world. 



Cod — Mackerel — Halibut. 




Halibut, 4 feet in length. Flying-fish, 6 inches. 

Sword-fish, 16 feet. Mackerel, 15 inches. 

On the blackboard make the drawings full or life size. 



27. On the shoals or shallow places are the 
banks of Newfoundland, where, during several 
months in the year, you may see hundreds of 
boats and thousands of men of different nations, 
engaged in fishing. 

28. A codfish of the ordinary size is about 
two feet in length. The mackerel is about 15 
inches in length. It is caught by hook and 
line, and by a seine 1 or net. It is salted in bar- 
rels. The halibut is a larger fish, measuring 
from 3 to 6 feet in length. Curiously, both its 
eyes are on the same side of its head. 

1 Seine, sane. 

Abundant, also off the east coast of the United States, are the Spanish mack- 
erel, blue-fish, and tile-fish, all valuable for food. The latter is a recent dis- 
covery. The menha'den is valuable for oil obtained from it. 

In what part of North America is Greenland ? Alaska ? Newfoundland ? 

Is Newfoundland surrounded by water ? What is it, therefore ? An island. 
By what water is it surrounded ? Mention other kinds of fishes. 






Flying-Fish — Sword-Fish — Cuttle-Fish. 3 3 






29. Did you ever see flying fish ? They are 
found in the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf 
of Mexico, 1 and warm parts of the ocean. 
Their long fins enable them to fly out of the 
water as high as the decks of ships, on which 
they sometimes fall. Their length is about ten 
inches. 

30. Another singular fish is the sword-fish, 1 2 
to 20 feet in length. It is so fierce, and so swift 
in motion, that it drives its sword, a long, sharp, 
bony substance, into a fish which it wishes to 
capture. It has been known to attack a ship 
and bury its weapon 2 deep in the timbers. 

31. Here is still another very curious fish. It 
is a cuttle-fish, which has eight long arms for 
seizing other creatures which it captures for 
food. When pursued, it discolors the water all 
about it with an inky substance, which enables 
it to conceal itself and escape from its enemy. 3 

32. Among the fish which men and boys 
delight to catch, are the pike and trout. The 
pike, which is about 2 feet long and 3 inches 

1 The black faced type throughout the book are to remind pupils 
to find the places on the maps in their geographies. 

2 Weapon, wep'on. 3 Enemy, en'e-me, not en'a. 

The sword-fish is found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. 

Do fishes breathe air ? The}" do. Do they come to the surface of the water 
for air, as whales, seals, and porpoises do ? They do not. Where do they find 
air to breathe? In the water. Does all water contain air? It does. Fishes 
have gills; animals, lungs to breathe with. The blood of fishes is cold, while 
that of animals is warm. Where is the Mediterranean Sea ? Gulf of Mexico ? 



34 Pike — Trout — Shad — Sardines. 




Trout, 16 inches in length. Pike, 3 feet. 

Codfish, 2 feet. Cuttle-fish. 

wide, is caught in streams and lakes, and is 
delicious for the table. The trout averages 
about 1 6 inches in length. It is caught by hook 
and line in the streams of the New England, 
Middle, and Western States, and Canada. It 
is usually found in swiftly-running streams, 
swimming against the current. 

33. A very fine fish which comes from the 
south in the spring, entering the rivers and in- 
lets of the States along the Atlantic Coast, is 
the shad. 

34. You may have seen enclosed in tin boxes 
and packed in olive 1 oil a great many very small 
fishes. Do you know their name ? Sardines} 
They are caught in large quantities in the 
Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. 

1 Olive, ol'iv, an oil obtained from the fruit of the olive tree, which 
grows in warm climates. 

2 Sardines, sdr'deens, so called from the island of Sardinia. 



The Sainton. 35-. 



A Salmon. 

35. Among the most highly prized of all the 
fishes, as an article of food, is the salmon. 1 Its 
flesh is eaten fresh, salted, dried, and pickled. 2 
It is found in the northern waters of North 
America, Europe, and Asia, from which it en- 
ters the rivers, ascending during a flood, at the 
rate of 25 miles a day. It is remarkable for its 
strength and perseverance in surmounting cas- 
cades ; in doing this, it has been known to 
spring 14 feet out of the water and to describe 
a curve of over 20 feet in length. 

36. Many streams of Canada abound with 
salmon, and the fisheries on the Columbia 
River, north of Oregon, are the most profitable 
in the world. 



1 Salmon, sam'un. 

2 Pickled, plk'ld, preserved in salt, vinegar, water, and some- 



times seasoned with spices. 



& 



Oysters — Pea r Is. 




Indians Spearing Salman on the Columbia River. 



37. The length of a salmon is about three 
feet, but sometimes one is caught weighing 60 or 
70 pounds, which is very much larger. 

38. There is a kind of fish found or caught in 
salt water called shell-fish, such as oysters, clams, 
crabs, and lobsters. These are found near the 
shore in great quantities. Oysters are usually 
found adhering to rocks or in the sand in salt 
water. Do any of you know what kind of a 
jewel, worn extensively by ladies, is found in 
some oysters ? The pearl. 



Pearls — Coral — Sponge. 3 7 

39. Pearls are obtained by divers. Divers do 
not always go down head first. Sometimes one 
is lowered by a rope, on the end of which a stone 
is fastened to help him to sink. With his feet 
upon this stone and one hand holding on to 
the rope, the diver collects as many of the pearl- 
oysters as he can in a minute or half-minute, 
when he must ascend to breathe. 

40. There are pretty ornaments made from 
the skeletons or kind of bony substance of small 
creatures which have died in the ocean in such 
large numbers as gradually to form islands. 
What is that substance ? Cor'aL This is also 
obtained by divers. The finest is of a rose-pink 
color, and is found chiefly near Italy. 

41. Sponge is also the skeletons of what were 
once living creatures. It is very soft, and it 
adheres to rocks, shells, etc., under water. It 
looks like a sea plant. 



Pearls are beautiful and expensive, especially those as large as peas and 
larger. Philip II., King of Spain, had one which was valued at $75,000, and it 
is said that those in the ear-drops of Cleopatra, the celebrated Queen of Egypt, 
were valued at $400,000. 

Among the most famous pearl fisheries are those near Ceylon and the east 
coast of Hindoostan'. Pearls have been found also near Japan, Java, Sumatra, 
and in the Persian Gulf and the Bay of Panama/ 

Mother-of-pearl is the inside lining of the shells. It is extensively used for 
making buttons, knife-handles, and for ornamenting boxes, furniture, etc. 

A flourishing business has long been carried on in the manufacture and sale 
of coral ornaments in the Italian cities of Naples, Leghorn', and Gen'oa. 

These divers for pearls and corals, when in the water, often see curious and 
frightful creatures, some of which are very dangerous. 

For what is sponge useful ? Pieces of sponge, coral, and whalebone may be 
shown to the class. 



38 



A Tempest at Sea. 



V. A TEMPEST AT SEA. 




Ship in Distress — Passengers Rescued. 

By means of a rope sent as shown on page 
24, and fastened to the ship, a kind of rope 



The sky was per- 
fectly serene ; there 
was nothing but a 
few coppery clouds, 
like reddish vapor, 
to be seen, which 
scudded across the 
heavens faster than a 
bird could fly. But 
the sea was furrowed 
by five or six long, 
high waves, like a 
chain of hills sepa- 



suspension bridge is established, by means of rated by broad deep 
which, a small boat or buoy, or otherwise, n " 

passengers are brought safely ashore. Valleys. 



A Tempest at Sea. 39 

2. The wind blew the summits of these waves into 
foam ; most to be dreaded were the overhanging heads 
of these waves, which, pushed forward by the force 
of the wind, rolled back thundering and foaming, 
ready to engulf the largest vessel if it should come 
within their reach. The condition of our ship, to- 
gether with that of the sea, rendered our situation 
frightful 

3. The main-mast had been shattered by lightning 
in the night, and the miz'zen-mast, on which was our 
only sail, had been carried away by the wind in the 
morning. The vessel no longer obeying the helm, 1 
floated at the mercy of the wind and wave. 

4. I was on the quarter-deck, clinging to the 
mizzen shrouds, endeavoring to realize the terrible 
spectacle. When we approached one of these moun- 
tain waves, the summit was on a level with our top- 
masts, that is, more than fifty feet above our heads. 

5. When the base of* this frightful wall passed un- 
der our vessel, it careened until the main yards were 
half under the water, which reached to the foot of 
the mast, and we were on the verge of foundering. 
And when rising on the crest of the wave, it righted 
again suddenly, only to descend on the other side, 
the danger was not lessened, and the water rushed 
beneath the vessel as swiftly as through a sluice, 2 like 
a sheet of foam. 

6. We could neither give, nor receive, the consola- 
tions of friendship. The violence of the wind was 
so great, that not a word could be heard, even though 

1 Helm, helm, not hel'lem. 2 Sluice, sloos. 



40 The Rainy Day. 

shouted directly in the ear. The air carried away 

our voices, and nothing could be distinguished but 

the sharp whistling 1 of the wind through the yards 

and rigging, and the booming of the waves, which 

resembled the hovvlings of ferocious beasts. Thus 

we hovered between life and death, from sunrise to 

sunset. 

" Harmonies of Nature." 




VI. THE RAINY DAY. . 

HE day is cold, and dark, and dreary; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary; 
The vine still clings to the moldering wall, 
But at every gust the dead leaves fall, 
And the day is dark and dreary. 

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary ; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary ; 
My thoughts still cling to the moldering past, 
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, 
And the days are dark and dreary. 

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary. 

Longfellow. 



Whistling, zvhis'ling. 



How deep do you think the ocean is? You? and you? etc. The highest 
trees (those in California) and church steeples in this country are about 300 feet 
high. How many of these, one on top of another, would reach from the bottom 
of the ocean to the top or surface ? Forty. 




A Rain-Dream. 41 



VII. A RAIN-DREAM. 

JHO is not awed that listens 1 to the rain. 
Sending his voice before him? Mighty Rain ! 
The upland steeps are shrouded by thy mists ; 
Thy shadow fills the hollow vale ; the pools 
No longer glimmer, and the silvery streams 
Darken to veins 2 of lead at thy approach. 

O mighty Rain ! already thou art here ; 
And every roof is beaten by thy streams, 
And, as thou passest, every glassy spring 
Grows rough, and every leaf in all the woods 
Is struck, and quivers. 

All the hill-tops slake 
Their thirst from thee ; a thousand languishing fields, 
A thousand fainting gardens, are refreshed ; 
A thousand idle rivulets start to speed. 

Thou fill'st the circle of the atmosphere 
Alone ; there is no living thing abroad, 
No bird to wing the air nor beast to walk 
The field ; the squirrel in the forest seeks 
His hollow tree ; the marmot of the field 
Has scampered to his den ; the butterfly 
Hides under her broad leaf; the insect crowds, 
That made the sunshine populous, lie close 
In their sump'-tu-ous shelters, whence the sun 
Will summon them again. 



1 Listens, lis'ns* i Veins, vanes. 



4-2 A Rain-Dream. 

I shut my eyes, and see, as in a dream, 
The friendly clouds drop down spring violets 
And summer columbines, and all the flowers 
That tuft the woodland floor, or overarch 
The streamlet : — spiky 1 grass for genial June, 
Brown harvests for the waiting husbandman, 
And for the woods a deluge 2 of fresh leaves. 

I see these myriad drops that slake the dust, 
Gathered in glorious streams * * * * 
* * * # * * j behold them change 
To threads of crystal as they sink in earth 
And leave its stains behind to rise again 
In pleasant nooks of verd'ure, where the child, 
Thirsty with play, with both his little hands 
Shall take the cool, clear water, raising it 
To wet his pretty lips. 

To-morrow noon 
How proudly will the water-lily ride 
The brimming pool, o'erlooking, like a queen, 
Her circle of broad leaves ! 

All through the starless hours, the mighty rain 
Smites with perpetual sound the forest-leaves ; 
And beats the matted grass, and still the earth 
Drinks the unstinted bounty of the clouds — 
Drinks for her cottage wells, her woodland brooks- 
Drinks for the springing trout, the toiling bee, 
And brooding bird — drinks for the tender flowers, 
Tall oaks, and all the herbage of her hills. 

William Cullen Bryant. 



1 Spiky, spike' e. 2 Deluge, del'uge, not ooge. 




Three Fishers went Sailing. 43 



VIII. THREE FISHERS WENT SAILING. 

HREE fishers went sailing out into the West, 
Out into the West as the sun went down ; 
Each thought on the woman who loved him 
best, 
And the children stood watching them out of the 

town : 
For men must work, and women must weep, 
And there's little to earn, and many to keep, 
Though the harbor-bar be moaning. 

Three wives sat up in the light-house tower, 

And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down ; 
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the 
shower, 
And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and 
brown ; 
But men must work, and women must weep, 
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep, 
And the harbor-bar be moaning. 

Three corpses lie out in the shining sands, 

In the morning gleam, as the tide went down, 
And the women were weeping and wringing their 
hands, 
For those who will never come home to the town. 
For men must work, and women must weep, 
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep, 

And good-bye to the bar and its moaning. 

KlXGSLEY. 

Charles Kingsley, an English Clergyman and Author, born 
in 1819. 



44 



Cod-Fishing. 



IX. COD-FISHING. 





Fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland. 

CCUSTOMED from childhood to brave 
the hardships of a most rig'orous cli- 
mate, in navigating their frail schoon- 
ers 1 amid tempest, ice and fog, the inhabitants 
of Newfoundland have developed into one of 
the finest seafaring populations on the face of 
the globe. Nowhere can better mariners be 
found. 

2. The principal industry of Newfoundland is 
the cod-fishery, and the chief center of the trade 



1 Schooners, skoon'ers, vessels usually carrying two masts. 



Cod-Fishing. 45 

is at St. John's, its capital, where the process of 
packing and shipping the salted fish may be 
witnessed to perfection, The fish, having been 
dried on stages or platforms erected for the 
purpose on the shores of every bay and inlet 
of the island, are brought to St. John's in small 
schooners and thrown in heaps upon the 
wharves. 1 There they are culled 2 and sorted 
into piles according to their quality. 

3. Women with hand-barrow r s attend upon the 
cullers, carry the fish into an adjoining shed, and 
upset their loads beside barrels standing ready 
to receive them. A couple of boys throw the 
fish into a cask, piling them up a foot or so 
above the brim, mount on the top, and having 
danced a war-dance upon them in their hob- 
nailed boots to pack them down, roll the barrel 
under a screw-press, where men stand ready to 
take charge of it. 

4. The cask is then rolled out from under the 
press, and handed over to two coopers. In a 
trice 3 the hoops are driven on, the cask is headed 
up, and then trundled 4 down an incline 5 into 
the hold 6 of some vessel, loading for the West 
Indies or some Mediterranean port. 



1 Wharves, kwdrvs, places for loading and emptying vessels. 

2 Culled, kiild ' , selected or chosen. 3 Trice, trise, moment. 
4 Trundled, truii'dld, rolled. 5 Incline 7 , a slope. 

6 Hold, interior of a vessel, in which its cargo is stowed. 



46 Catching Seals. 



X. CATCHING SEALS. 




EALING operations are vigorously 
conducted by the inhabitants of St. 
John's. In former days the seal fishery 
was carried on in sailing vessels, and was at- 
tended with considerable 1 danger ; but now that 
steamships are used the risk is much dimin- 
ished. The paying nature of the business 2 may 
be gathered from the fact that steamers make a 
large profit, although the sealing season lasts 
only a month or six weeks. 

2. Early in the spring, the ice from the north 
strikes in towards the eastern coast of New- 
foundland, bringing with it hundreds and hun- 
dreds of thousands of seals, young and old. 
Then St. John's wakes up, and the whole island 
is in a bustle. 3 Though it entails constant ex- 
posure to great cold, and extremely hard work, 
the young men struggle eagerly to secure a 
berth for the sealing season, for they earn very 
high wages, enjoy the sport, and the business 
involves uncertainty and danger which add 
such a rel r ish to their lives. 



1 Considerable, con-sid'er-a-ble, not sid'ra. Business, biz'ness. 

3 Bustle, bus'l, not bus'tel, confusion. 



Catching Seals. 47 

3. At length everything is ready, and a fleet 
of steamers and of sailing craft of all kinds and 
sizes, from large coasting schooners down to 
open boats, issuing from every bay, start out to 
look for the ice. The ships, crowded with as 
many men as they can hold, make two trips of 
about a fortnight's duration each; the first 
being devoted to the capture of the young seals, 
at that time only a few weeks old, and the 
second to the destruction of the full-grown 
animals. The latter are generally shot, while 
the former are knocked on the head with clubs. 

4. As soon as the ice is reached, the men 
scatter themselves about the field, running over 
the rough surface, jumping from block to block 
of loose ice, tumbling into holes and scrambling 
out again, wild with excitement in their search 
for seals. 

5. Each man acts independently, doing the 
best he can for himself. When he has killed 
a seal he stops but a minute * to whip off the 
skin with the blubber 2 attached, and fasten a 
cord to it, and then he starts off again after 
another seal, and so on till he has secured as 
many as he can drag : then he returns, towing 
his load behind him, to the ship. 

1 Minute, min'it. 

2 Blubber, fat of sea animals from which oil is made. 



48 Catching Seals. 

6. These seals are valuable only for the oil 
which is tried out of their fat, and which is em- 
ployed for various lubricating 1 purposes, and for 
their skins, which are tanned and used princi- 
pally for shoe leather. They do not produce the 
pelt which, when plucked and dyed, is worked 
up into those lovely sealskin sacques 2 which 
ladies so much delight to wear in cold weather, 

7. The number of seals brought in annually 
is very great, as many as five hundred thousand 
having been killed in a single season. The 
business employs nearly ten thousand men. 

8. The ice, on which they come down in 
swarms every year from the north, melts during 
the summer months soon after coming in con- 
tact with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. 

9. What then becomes of the seals? Do 
they find their way back through thousands of 
watery miles to their polar birthplace, or do 
they remain scattered about along the shores 
of Newfoundland and the neighboring conti- 
nent ? It is a problem in natural history. 

Earl of Dun raven. 

1 Lubricating, lu'bri-kd-ting, making smooth. 

2 ^arniip? wr 



- Sacques, 



sax. 



Do all seals yield fine fur ? {See pages 29, 30, 31.) Where are the best fur 
seals captured ? Through what preparation does their fur go before it is ready 
for use ? Is the seal a fish ? Is the whale a fish ? Is their blood cold, or warm ? 
Do they breathe by means of gills, or lungs. 



A Ship in a Storm. 



49 



XL A SHIP IN A STORM. 




The calm 1 which 
began about four 
o'clock yesterday 
afternoon, contin- 
ued till about nine 
in the evening. 
The captain pre- 
dicted 2 that we 
should encounter 
a " gale " 3 from 
the south-east. 

2. The gale came 
on at about eleven 
o'clock ; not vio- 
lent at first, but 
increasing every 
moment. I slept soundly until after five in the 
morning, and then awoke with a confused recollection 
of a good deal of rolling and thumping through the 
night, which was occasioned by the dashing of the 
waves against the ship. 

3. It was still quite dark. Four of the sails were 
already in ribbons ; the winds whistling through the 
cordage ; i the rain dashing furiously and in torrents ; 
the noise and spray scarcely less than I found them 
under the great sheet at Niagara. 

1 Calm, kdm. - Predicted, pre-dict'ed, foretold. 

3 Gale, gale, wind which blows at the rate of 50 to 60 miles an 
hour- 4 Cordage, cord'age, ropes. 



50 A Ship in a Storm. 

4. And in the midst of all this, the captain with 
his speaking trumpet, the officers and the sailors 
screaming to each other in efforts to be heard — this, 
all this, in the darkness which precedes the dawning 
of day, and with the fury of the hurricane, combined 
to form as much of the terribly sublime as I ever 
wish to witness concentrated in one scene. 

5. The passengers, though silent, were filled with 
apprehension. What the extent of the danger, and 
how all this would terminate, were questions which 
rose in my own mind, although I w T as unconscious 
of fear or trep-ida'tion. But to such questions there 
are no answers, for this knowledge resides only with 
Him who " guides the storm and directs the whirl- 
wind." 

6. We had encountered, however, as yet, only the 
commencement of a gale, whose terrors had been 
heightened by its suddenness, by the darkness, and 
by the confusion. 

7. It continued to blow furiously for twenty-four 
hours; so that during the whole day I enjoyed a 
view which, apart from its dangers, would be worth 
a voyage across the Atlantic. 

8. The ship was driven madly through the raging 
waters, and when it was impossible to walk the decks 
without imminent risk of being lifted up and carried 
away by the winds, the poor sailors were kept aloft, 
tossing and swinging about the yards and in the 
tops, clinging by their bodies, feet, and arms with 
mysterious tenacity to the spars, while their hands 
were employed in taking in and securing sail 



A Ship in a Storm, 51 

9. On deck the officers and men made themselves 
safe by ropes; but how the gallant fellows aloft kept 
from being blown out of the rigging, was equally a 
matter of wonder aud admiration. 

10. However, about seven o'clock they had taken 
in what canvas had not been blown away. At nine 
o'clock the hurricane had acquired its full force. 
There was no more work to be done. 

11. The ship lay to, and those who had her in 
charge only remained on deck to be prepared for 
whatever disaster might occur. The breakfast hour 
came and passed, unheeded, though I found my 
appetite quite equal to the spare allowance of a fast 
day. 

12. By this time the sea was rolling up its hurri- 
cane waves ; and that I might not lose the grandeur 
of such a view, I fortified myself against the rain and 
spray, and in spite of the fierceness of the gale, 
planted myself in a position favorable for a survey 
of all around me, and in safety, so long as the ship's 
strong works might hold together. 

13. Our ship rode out the whirlwind without dam- 
age and in triumph. True it is, she was made to 
whistle through her cordage, to creak and moan 
through all her timbers, even to her masts. True it 
is, she was made to plunge and rear, to tremble and 
reel and stagger. Still, she continued to scale the 
watery mountain, and ride on its very summit, until, 
as it rolled onward from beneath her, she descended 
gently on her pathway, ready to triumph again and 
again over each succeeding wave, 



5 2 Snow-Flakes. 

14. At such a moment it was a matter of profound 
deliberation which most to admire, the majesty of 
God in the winds and waves or His goodness and 
wisdom in enabling His creatures to contend with 
and overcome the elements even in the fierceness of 
their anger ! To cast one's eye abroad on the scene 
that surrounded me at this moment, and to think 
man should have said to himself, " I will build 
myself an ark in the midst of you, and ye shall not 
prevent my passage ; nay, ye indomitable waves 
shall bear me up, and ye winds shall waft me on- 
ward ! " And yet there we were in the fullness of 
this fearful experiment. Archbishop Hughes. 

Archbishop Hughes of New York, was a celebrated and 
learned prelate of the Catholic Church, born in Ireland, in 1797. 
At the age of 20 years, he came to the United States, and was 
educated in Maryland. 



•—•-♦-•* 




SNOW-FLAKES. 

HEN EVER a snow-flake leaves the sky, 
It turns and turns to say " Good-bye ! 
Good-bye, dear cloud, so cool and gray! " 
Then lightly travels on its way. 

And when a snow-flake finds a tree, 

" Good-day ! " it says — " Good-day to thee ! 

Thou art so bare and lonely, dear, 

I'll rest and call my comrades here. ,, 

But when a snow-flake, brave and meek, 
Lights on a rosy maiden's cheek, 
It starts — " How warm and soft the day ! 
Tis summer! " — and it melts away. 



The Voice of the Wind. 53 



XII. THE VOICE OF THE WIND. 




ET us throw more logs on the fire ! 
We have need of a cheerful light, 
And close round the hearth to gather, 
For the wind has risen to-night. 
With the mournful sound of its wailing 

It has checked the children's glee, 
And it calls with a louder clamor 
Than the clamor of the sea. 

Hark to the voice of the wind ! 

Let us listen to what it is saying, 

Let us hearken to where it has been ; 
For it tells, in its terrible crying, 

The fearful sights it has seen. 
It clatters loud at the casements, 

Round the house it hurries on, 
And shrieks with redoubled fury, 

When we say, " The blast is gone ! " 
Hark to the voice of the wind ! 

It has been on the field of battle, • 

Where the dying and wounded lie, 
And it brings the last groan they uttered, 

And the ravenous vulture's cry. 
It has been where the icebergs were meeting 

And closed with a fearful crash ; 
On the shore where no footstep has wandered, 

It has heard the waters dash. 

Hark to the voice of the wind ! 



54 The Voice of the Wind. 

It has been on the desolate ocean, 

When the lightning struck the mast ; 
It has heard the cry of the drowning, 

Who sank as it hurried past ; 
The words of despair and anguish, 

That were heard by no human ear, 
The gun that no signal answered ; 

It brings them all to us here. 

Hark to the voice of the wind ! 

It has swept through the gloomy forest, 

Where the sledge was urged to its speed? 
Where the howling wolves were rushing 

On the track of the panting steed. 
Where the pool was black and lonely, 

It caught up a splash and a cry — 
Only the bleak sky heard it, 

And the wind as it hurried by. 

Hark to the voice of the wind ! 

Then throw more logs on the fire, 
Since the air is bleak and cold, 
And the children are drawing nigher, 

For the tales that the wind has told. 
So closer and closer gather 

Round the red and crackling light ; 
And rejoice (while the wind is blowing) 
We are safe and warm to-night ! 
Hark to the voice of the wind ! 

Miss Procter. 
Adelaide Anne Procter, >a poetess, born in London, in 1825. 




The Missing Ship, 55 



XIII. THE MISSING SHIP. 

T was long before the cable stretched across 
the ocean, when the steamers did not make 
such rapid runs from continent to conti- 
nent, that the ship Atlantic was missing. She had 
been due in New York for some days, and the people 
began to despair. " The Atlantic has not been heard 
from yet ! " "What news from the Atlantic on 
Exchange?" "None." 

2. Telegraph despatches came in from all quarters. 
"Any news from the Atlantic ? " And the word 
thrilled along the wires to the hearts of those who 
had no friends on board. " No." 

3. Day after day passed, and people began to be 
excited when the booming of the guns told that a 
ship was coming up the Narrows. People went out 
upon the Battery and Castle Garden with their spy- 
glasses ; but it was a British ship, the Union Jack 
was flying ; they watched her come to her moorings 
and their hearts sank within them. 

4. " Any news from the Atlantic ? " 

5. " Has not the Atlantic arrived ? " 

6. -No!" 

7. "She sailed fifteen days before we did, and we 
have heard nothing from her; " and the people said, 
" There is no use hoping against hope ; she has gone, 
like the President. She has made her last port." 

8. Day after day passed, and men looked at one 
another and said, " Ah, it is a sad thing about the 
Atlantic! " 



56 



Bell of the " 'Atlantic? 




XIV. BELL OF THE "ATLANTIC." 

|OLL, toll, toll ! 

Thou bell by billows swung, 
And, night and day, thy warning words 
Repeat with mournful tongue ! 
Toll for the queenly boat, 

Wrecked on yon rocky shore ! 
Sea-weed is in her palace halls — 
She rides the surge no more. 

Toll for the master bold, 

The high-souled and the brave, 
Who ruled her like a thing of life 

Amid the crested wave ! 
Toll for the hardy crew, 

Sons of the storm and blast, 
Who long the tyrant ocean dared ; 

But it vanquished them at last. 



Toll for the man of God, 

Whose hallowed voice of prayer 
Rose calm above the stifled groan 

Of that intense despair ! 
How precious were those tones, 

On that sad verge of life, 
Amid the fierce and freezing storm, 

And the mountain billows' strife ! 



Bell of the "Atlantic" 5 7 

Toll for the lover, lost 

To the summoned bridal train ; 
Bright glows a picture on his breast, 

Beneath th' unfathomed main. 
One from her casement gazeth 

Long o'er the misty sea : 
He cometh not, pale maiden — 

His heart is cold to thee ! 

Toll for the absent sire, 

Who to his home drew near, 
To bless a glad, expecting group — 

Fond wife and children dear ! 
They heap the blazing hearth, 

The festal board is spread, 
But a fearful guest is at the gate ; — 

Room for the sheeted dead ! 

Toll for the loved and fair, 

The whelmed beneath the tide — 
The broken harps around whose strings 

The dull sea-monsters glide ! 
Mother and nursling sweet, 

Reft from the household throng ; 
There's bitter weeping in the nest 

Where breathed their soul of song. 

Toll for the hearts that bleed 

'Neath misery's furrowing trace ; 
Toll for the hapless orphan left, 

The last of all his race ! 



5 8 All's Well. 

Yea, with thy heaviest knell, 
From surge to rocky shore, 

Toll for the living — not the dead, 
Whose mortal woes are o'er. 

Toll, toll, toll ! 

O'er breeze and billow free ; 
And with thy startling lore instruct 

Each rover of the sea. 
Tell how o'er proudest joys 

May swift destruction sweep, 

And bid him build his hopes on high — 

Lone teacher of the deep ! 

Mrs. Sig'ourney. 




XV. ALUS WELL. 

ESERTED by the waning moon, 
When skies proclaim night's cheerless noon, 
On tower, or fort, or tented ground 
The sentry walks his lonely round ; 
And should a footstep haply stray 
Where caution marks the guarded way, 
Who goes there? Stranger quickly tell ; 
A friend, — the word. Good-night ; all's well. 

Or sailing on the midnight deep, 
When weary messmates soundly sleep, 
The careful watch patrols the deck, 
To guard the ship from foes or wreck ; 
And while his thoughts oft homeward veer, 
Some friendly voice salutes his ear, — 
What cheer ? brother, quickly tell ; 
Above, — below. Good-night ; all's well. 



The Brave Pilot. 59 




XVI THE BRAVE PILOT. 

OHN MAYNARD was well known in the 
lake district as a God-fearing, honest, and 
intelligent man. He was pilot on a steam- 
boat going from Detroit to Buffalo. 

2. One summer afternoon — at that time those 
steamers seldom carried life-boats — smoke was seen 
ascending from below, and the captain called out, 
" Simpson, go below and see what the matter is 
down there." 

3. Simpson came up with his face pale as ashes, 
and said, " Captain, the ship is on fire." 

4. Then "Fire! fire! fire!" on shipboard. 

5. All hands were called up, buckets of water were 
dashed on the fire, but in vain. There were large 
quantities of rosin and tar on board, and it was found 
useless to attempt to save the ship. 

6. The passengers rushed forward and inquired 
of the pilot, "How far are we from Buffalo?" 

7. " Seven miles." 

8. " How long before w r e can reach there ? " 

9. "Three-quarters of an hour, at our present rate 
of steam." 

10. " Is there any danger ? " 

11. "Danger! Here, see the smoke bursting 
out, — go forward if you would save your lives." 



60 The Brave Pilot. 

12. Passengers and crew — men, women, and chil- 
dren — crowded the forward part of the ship. John 
Maynard stood at the helm. The flames burst forth 
in a sheet of fire ; clouds of smoke arose. 

13. The captain cried out through his trumpet, 
"John Maynard!" 

14. " Ay, ay, sir ! " 

15. " Are you at the helm!" 

16. " Ay, ay, sir ! " 

17. " How does she head ? " 

18. " Southeast by east, sir." 

19. " Head her southeast, and run her on shore," 
said the captain. 

20. Nearer, nearer, yet nearer, she approached 
the shore. 

21. Again the captain cried out, "John May- 
nard ! " 

22. The response came feebly this time, " Ay, ay, 
sir!" 

23. " Can you hold on five minutes longer, John ? " 
he said. 

24. " By God's help, I will." 

25. The old man's hair was scorched from the 
scalp, one hand disabled ; — his knee upon the stanch- 
ion, and his teeth set, with his other hand upon the 
wheel, he stood firm as a rock. 

26. He beached the ship; every man, woman, 
and child was saved, as John Maynard dropped, 
and his spirit took its flight to God. 

John B. Gough. 



Little Mabel. 61 



XVII. LITTLE MABEL. 




ABEL, little Mabel, 

With face against the pane, 
Looks out across the night 
And sees the Beacon Light 
A-trembling in the rain. 

She hears the sea-birds screech, 

And the breakers on the beach 

Making moan, making moan. 

And the wind about the eaves 
Of the cottage sobs and grieves ; 

And the willow-tree is blown 
To and fro, to and fro 
Till it seems like some old crone 
Standing out there all alone, 

With her woe ! 
Wringing, as she stands, 
Her gaunt and palsied hands, 
While Mabel, timid Mabel, 

With face against the pane, 
Looks out across the night, 
And sees the Beacon Light, 

A-trembling in the rain. 

Set the table, maiden Mabel, 
And make the cabin warm ; 

Your little fisher-lover 
Is out there in the storm, 



62 



Sea Coast — Surf — Surf -Boat.- 





Mi!!! |i|;iijjj \''-0\ I' 1 . \ 

I 

/ 


i 




■t^jL'^jHP^'-- 


,; fc$ |"|l| 1 


l&: 




. 1 

H 

i i' 'Hi 
1 


j 




■ 

ilfl 






v JPhM 

1 

,iM j ij |Iji 1 






1 



g 

u 



i 



ft a 

<2.2 

3 3 

o si 



03 



PQ 



Little Mabel. 63 

And your father — you are weeping ! 

O Mabel, timid Mabel, 

Go, spread the supper-table, 
And set the tea a-steeping. 

Your lover's heart is brave, 

His boat is staunch and tight ; 
And your father knows the perilous reef 

That makes the water white. 
—But Mabel, Mabel darling, 

With face against the pane, 
Looks out across the night 

At the Beacon in the rain. 

The heavens are veined with fire ! 

And the thunder, how it rolls ! 
In the lullings of the storm 

The solemn church-bell tolls. 

#■■ .*»#-"*' ^ # * 

A boom ! — the Lighthouse gun ! 

(How its echo rolls and rolls !) 
'Tis to warn the home-bound ships 

Off the shoals ! 
See ! a rocket cleaves the sky 

From the Fort, — a shaft of light ! 
See ! it fades, and, fading, leaves 

Golden furrows on the night ! 

What made Mabel's cheek so pale? 

What made Mabel's lips so white ? 
Did she see the helpless sail 

That, tossing here and there, 

Like a feather in the air, 



64 Little Mabel. 

Went down and out of sight ? 
Down, down, and out of sight ! 
O, watch no more, no more, 

With face against the pane ; 
You cannot see the men that drown 

By the Beacon in the rain ! 
****** 

Four ancient fishermen, 

In the pleasant autumn air, 
Come toiling up the sands, 
With something in their hands, — 
Two bodies stark and white, 
Ah, so ghastly in the light, 

With sea-weed in their hair ! 

O ancient fishermen, 

Go up to yonder cot ! 
You'll find a little child, 

With face against the pane, 
Who looks toward the beach, 

And, looking, sees it not. 

She will never watch again ! 

Never watch and weep at night ! 
For those pretty, saintly eyes 
Look beyond the stormy skies, 

And they see the Beacon Light. 

Aldrich. 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich, an American poet, born in New 
Hampshire in 1836. His writings — prose as well as poetry — have 
attracted wide attention, and his " Story of a Bad Boy," first printed 
in "Our Young Folks," has been read with enthusiasm by both 
old and young. 



What Light-houses are for. 



65 



XVIII. LIGHT-HOUSES. 



1. Light-houses are very 
necessary in saving ships. 
When the wind is blowing 
a ship towards the shore 
on a dark night, if there 
were no light-houses the 
ship would inevitably be 
destroyed. 

2. The United States 
has many miles of sea-coast 
along the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans, as well 
as on the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, and also in the great 
lakes of the north ; these 
lakes are like seas of fresh water. 

3. To protect the shipping on all this long 
line of coast this country supported in 1873 six 
hundred and twenty light-houses. 

4. Light-houses are built of stone, brick, or 
iron. To look at some of the rocks before a light- 
house is built on them, you would say that it 
was impossible to build anything on such a 
slippery, wave-washed place as that, for some- 
times the rock can be seen for a short time 
only at low tide. 




A Light-house. 



66 The Lighthouse. 

5. The ingenuity and patient thought of man 
can, however, overcome many difficulties, and 
one plan after another has been tried, until all 
obstacles have been overcome. 

6. The next time it blows hard on a dark 
night, especially if the wind blow towards the 
shore, you can readily imagine every one on 
board a ship peering eagerly to see the wished- 
for light. When at length they see it, what joy 
spreads from stem to stern ! The captain takes 
out his watch, and, after observing a little, says : 
" It is a revolving light, and it revolves in so 
many minutes ; now I know which light it is, 
and I know just where we are." 




XIX. THE LIGHTHOUSE. 

HE mariner remembers when a child, 

On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink ; 
And when returning from adventures wild 
He saw it rise again o'er ocean's brink. 

Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same 

Year after year, through all the silent night, 

Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame, 
Shines on that inextinguishable light ! 

" Sail on ! " it says, " sail on, ye stately ships ! 

And with your floating bridge the ocean span ; 
Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse, 

Be yours to bring man nearer unto man ! " 

Longfellow. 



The Story of Eddy stone. 



6 7 



XX. THE STORY OF EDDYSTONE. 




Eddystone Lighthouse. 




HE first lighthouse of a regular character on 
the shores of England was erected about 
1699, of stone and timber. The Eddystone 
is the name of the highest summit of a reef of rocks 



68 The Story of Eddy stone. 

lying in deep-water about fourteen miles to the 
south-west of Plymouth x harbor. 

2. At high water they are barely visible, and their 
position could only be told by the waves which eddy* 
and seethe above them ; at low water several low, 
broken, and dismal-looking ridges are seen. When 
the wind blows no ship involved in the vortex 3 could 
hope to escape destruction. 

3. It may readily be seen that so perilous a reef, 
when unprotected by any beacon, 4 was a source 
of deep alarm to the mariner. Wrecks were so nu- 
merous that the erection of a lighthouse was a mat- 
ter of national concern ; yet no one could be found 
to undertake a task whose accomplishment nature 
seemed to have rendered impossible, until Henry 
Winstan'ley, a country gentleman of Essex, chival- 
rously came forward, and having obtained the neces- 
sary legal powers, proceeded to carry his design into 
execution. 

4. The first summer — and it was only in summer 
the work could be carried on — was occupied in mak- 
ing twelve holes in the rock, and fastening as many 
irons 5 in them. The task pro-gress'ed but slowly, 
for, as Winstanley himself relates, though it was 
summer, the weather would at times prove of such 
terrible violence, that for ten days together the sea 
would so rage about the rocks as to bury the works, 
and prevent all approach to them. 

1 Plymouth, plim'uth. 3 Vortex, center of whirlpool. 

2 Ed'dy, contrary current, 4 Beacon, be'kn, a signal. 

a whirlpool. 5 Irons, i'urns. 



The Story of Eddy stone. 69 

"5. The second summer was spent in constructing 
a solid, round pillar, and in the third year all was 
finished ; the lantern was placed and they ventured 
to lodge there soon after mid-summer. 

6. Winstanley was proud of his work, and so con- 
vinced, it is said, of its entire solidity, that he ex- 
pressed a wish to be beneath its roof in the greatest 
storm that ever blew under the face of heaven, con- 
vinced that it could not shake one joist or beam. 

7. He had his wish fulfilled. With his workmen 
and keepers he had taken up his abode in the light- 
house, when a terrible gale blew, and on the 26th of 
November, attained to an unparalleled excess of 
fury. 

8. All through that memorable night the tempest 
raged. As soon as morning came the people of 
Plymouth hastened to the beach, and looked toward 
the Eddystone. But no structure crowned the rock 
over which the waves were tossing all unchecked. 
The lighthouse was swept away, and no vestiges 1 
remained of its adventurous occupants. 

9. The lighthouse which was afterward built was 
commenced by John Smeaton, and finished in 1759. 
This becoming unsafe a new one, built of granite, 
was completed in 1881. The violence of the swell, 
even in mild weather, renders communication with 
the shore exceedingly dangerous ; and the sea fre, 
quently rises above the light. 

1 Vestige, trace. 



/O 



Movements in the Ocean. 




Blackboard Drawing* of the Gulf Stream (warm) and Arctic Cur- 
rent (cold). Draw a frame 24 inches from north to south, and 
26 inches from east to west. On it mark points where the 
outlines of the continents touch it, making* every line and 
distance exactly eight times as long* as in the diagram. The 
arrows show the directions in which the currents flow. The 
current in dotted lines is cold. 



XXI. OCEAN CURRENTS— GULF STREAM. 

i. The waters of the oceans are in constant 
motion, those of warm parts of the earth flow- 
ing toward the cold regions, and those from the 
cold parts flowing toward the hot regions. 

2. The coldest parts of the earth are the most 



Warm and Cold Currents. 71 

northern and southern [the teacher pointing to 
them on a globe or map], and the hottest parts 
are midway between them, or on each side of a 
great circle called the Equator. 

3. In the oceans are great streams or cur- 
rents which flow like rivers. The warm stream 
is called the Equatorial Current, and the cold 
streams are called Arctic and Antarctic Currents. 

4. One of the principal branches of the Equa- 
torial Current is called the Gulf Stream, which, 
as you may see in the drawing, issues from the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

5. Of course it is only that part of the great Equatorial 
Current which is turned northwest by the eastern part or 
elbow of South America, entering the Gulf of Mexico 
between Cuba and Yucatan, and leaving it between 
Cuba and Florida. 

6. This Gulf Stream, flowing in a northeast 
direction across the Atlantic, is, therefore, a 
stream of warm water rushing through and 
over the cold waters of that part of the ocean. 

7. The Gulf Stream and winds from the 
southwest cany heat all the way to the west 
coast of Europe, keeping the fields of Eng- 
land and Ireland fresh and green even in 
winter, and protecting those countries from 
a climate similar to that of Labrador, where 
for five or six months in the year the waters 
are frozen and the ground is all covered over 



72 Effects of the Currents, 

with snow. Observe that Labrador is no fur- 
ther from the Equator than are those countries. 

8. The waters of the Gulf Stream moderate 
the winters also of Norway and Iceland. 

9. You can readily see that a ship can sail from the 
United States to Europe with the Gulf Stream in a 
shorter time than it can from Europe to this country, 
against the stream. 

10. The chief causes of these ocean currents are the 
heat of the sun and the revolution of the earth on its 
axis. The winds also have an effect on them. 

11. There are other currents in the ocean; 
one in the North Pacific is similar to the Gulf 
Stream of the Atlantic. It carries warmth and 
fertility to the shores of California, Oregon, 
and Washington Territory. 



What advantage is there in these movements of the 
waters of the ocean ? They lessen the heat of the hottest 
parts of the earth and the cold of the coldest parts. 

Of what benefit is the Gulf Stream to the countries of 
Western Europe ? It tempers their winters, and its vapors 
supply their rains. 

How are its vapors conveyed to those countries ? By 
the westerly winds. 

What supplies the rains of California, Oregon, Washing- 
ton Territory, and Alaska ? Vapors from the Pacific Ocean. 

Where do these warm streams come from ? From the 
hottest or Equatorial parts of the earth's surface. 

Where do the cold streams come from ? From the coldest 
or Polar Regions. 



Ships — Shipyards. 



73 




Building- a Ship. 



XXII. SHIPS, DOCKS, ETC. 




IN the sea-coast or on the bank of a river 
you will sometimes find a ship-yard 
where ships are built. 
2. To build a ship, men lay a great, long tim- 
ber called the keel, on an inclined track or plat- 
form. To this keel are fastened the ribs, or 
curved timbers, which form the sides of the 
ship. The whole is supported and surrounded 
by a great frame called the stocks. 



74 Steamships — A Ship-Launch. 

3. The ribs are then covered with thick 
planks, and those planks which are below the 
water-line are covered w T ith plates or sheets of 
copper or other metal 

4. Steamships are now built wholly of iron 
and steel. The plates, instead of planks, are 
secured by bolts and rivets passing through 
their overlapping edges. Iron ships can carry 
larger cargoes than wooden ships. 

5. When the body or hull of the ship is 
ready to be launched, long, slanting timbers are 
placed under it, reaching down into the water. 
These timbers or tracks are covered with grease 
and soap, some of the props removed, and the 
whole is made to slide down into the water. 
People take great pleasure in witnessing a launch. 

6. After the ship is launched it receives its 
masts and sails, and is finished. If intended for 
a steamship, it is also provided with engines, fur- 
naces, smoke-pipes, and perhaps paddle-wheels. 

7. Instead of paddle-wheels, which you may 
see at the sides of steamboats, you will find 
that now most steamships are driven by a pro- 
peller, or huge iron screw, at its stern, or hinder 
part. When this propeller turns round and 
round very rapidly, its great, wide arms strike 
the water in such a way as to push the steamer 
ahead at the rate of about fifteen knots, or miles, 
every hour. 



Parts of a Ship — Their Names. 75 



Blackboard Drawing-. Names of sails, etc.; A, flying'-gib; B, 
jib; C, foretop-mast-stay sail; D, foretop-g-allant sail; E, 
foretop sail; F, fore-course; Gr, maintop-gallant sail; H, 
maintop sail ; I, main-course ; J, mizzen -spanker. 

K, hull or body; L., keel; M, bow; N, rudder; O, bowsprit; P, 
jib-boom; Q,, marting-ale; R, life-boat; S, buoy. 

a, Foreroyal stay; c, foretop-grallant stay ; d, foretop-mast stay; 
e, maintop-grallant stay; f, maintop-mast stay ; h, main stay; 
i, foretop-gallant mast ; j, maintop-g-allant mast ; k, mizzen- 
top mast. 

8. Here is a ship (pointing to one on the 
chart). See with what ease she moves upon 
her way, her swelling sails urging her onward 
with the favoring breeze. What wonderful 
progress men have made from the time when 
the rude savage straddled his log and floated 
first along the shore ! 

9. Almost as primitive is the large earthen jar used 
by the fisherman at the mouth of the Ganges River. He 



7 6 



What Ships Carry. 



fishes as he floats, and puts the fish into the jar that is at 
once his support and his storehouse. Other races use 
rafts, bark canoes, hollow logs called dug-outs, and boats 
of basket-work covered with skins. 

10. Then came the 
idea of a mast with a 
sail of skin or matting. 
As soon as men learned 
how to make planks 
they used them to 
make boats. These in- 
creased in size, as did 
their sails, until large 
enough to be called 
sloops or schooners or 
ships, which can carry 
hundreds of men and 

thousands Of tons Of A Chinese Junk. 

merchandise for thousands of miles across a 
trackless ocean. 

ii. The immense quantities of cotton, corn, 
wheat, butter, cheese, petroleum, beef, pork, and 
other articles which are being shipped to Eu- 
rope every year bring great wealth to this 
country. 

12. When men discovered the power of steam, 
they made steamboats and steamships. These 
move over the water by means of the power 
of the vapor of water, that we call steam. 




Steam — Mach inery. 



77 




Blackboard Drawing-. On the rig-lit is a furnace, on which is 
the boiler, partly filled with water. Steam collects in the 
curved top of the boiler, and is let into the cylinder, first at A ? 
then at B. then A, then B, or one after another, so as to push 
the piston, E, up and down rapidly, thus moving" the large 
working-beam, which sets the whole machinery in motion. C 
and D are exhaust-pipes. 

13. Here is a rough drawing to show how the 
steam does its work. When the steam comes 
from boiling water it expands very much, and 
this expansion is the power we employ. 

14. The cylinder is a strong vessel of iron or 
steel in shape like one joint of a stovepipe, but 
very much larger. The steam comes out very 
hot, as well as very powerful and expansive, and 
getting in under the piston, pushes it up, and, 
consequently, pushes the piston-rod which is 
attached to it. This rod sets the machinery in 
motion, and works the paddle-wheels of the 
steamboat or the great revolving screw or pro- 
peller of the steamship. 

15. When the steam has pushed the piston 
up to the top of the cylinder the steam-pipe in- 
let is shut off below and let on above. At the 



78 



How Engines Work. 



same time the exhaust-pipe outlet is closed above 
and opened below, so that by opening and shut- 
ting these outlets and inlets the piston is kept 
going up and down with power enough to 
force a large boat through the water, or a loco- 
motive with many cars behind it along a rail- 
road. 




A Steamship and Sailing* Vessels on the Ocean. 

1 6. Men have also made steamers whose out- 
side is entirely of iron. One of these, the Great 
Eastern, is like a small village in the number of 
persons it can carry. 

17. War-steamers of iron have been built 



Iron Ships — Ironclads. 79 

with very thick sides so as to resist cannon- 
balls. 

18. The Devastation, an English vessel of this class, has 
on her sides twelve inches of iron, backed by eighteen 
inches of wood, and the Dictator, an American vessel, 
has six inches of iron, backed by forty-two inches of wood, 
making a very formidable barrier. 




The Ironclad " Merrimac." 

19. Two of the most celebrated ironclad 
vessels of war were the Merrimac (or Virgi- 
nia) and the Monitor. 

20. The former, a Confederate war-vessel, with a slop- 
ing roof of railroad iron, attacked and destroyed the 
Union w T ar-vessels (not ironclad) Cumberland and Con- 
gress, whose heavy cannon-balls glanced harmlessly off. 
Nothing then seemed easier than to destroy all the other 
Union vessels it could reach ; but the little ironclad Moni- 
tor, less than one-fifth the weight of the Merri?nac, arrived 
from New York just in the nick of time. The two iron- 
clads went at each other, and for several hours they fought 
furiously. Five times the Merrimac tried to run down 
and sink her brave little antagonist; broadside after 
broadside was hurled at it, but its hull, its deck, arid its 



80 Merrimac and Monitor — Docks. 

round, revolving turret (small tower) were too strongly 
covered with plates of iron. The Merrimac was com- 
pelled to retire from the contest, which was her last. 



The Monitor. 

21. The Monitor's two big guns were fired through 
openings in the tower. When fired, the cannons were 
Drought back into the tower and the openings closed by 
heavy iron doors. 

22. This famous engagement took place at 
the mouth of the James River, near the City 
of Norfolk, in 1862. 

23. The length of the Monitor was 174 feet and its 
width 41 feet. 

24. A dock is a part of a harbor or river 
which is enclosed between piers, wharves, or 
high banks, where vessels may enter to load or 
unload. 

25. Some docks have gates to close tightly 
where it is necessary to prevent the water from 
running out with the falling tide. 



Dry-Docks, etc. 




Blackboard Drawing: of a floating: Dry-Dock. Water let into 
dock, "which sinks to receive vessel. 

26. A dry-dock is one from which the water 
may be shut out or pumped out. 

27. Some dry-docks are floating docks like 
that shown in the chart and in the blackboard 
drawing. Such have cisterns or hollow spaces 
between their sides or under the floor, into 
which water is admitted until the dock sinks 
deep enough to admit a vessel needing repairs. 




Blackboard Drawing- of a floating: Dry-Dock. Water pumped 
out of dock, c ausing: dock to rise, lifting: the vessel. 

28. When the vessel is properly braced or 



82 Dry-Docks — How Used. 

propped up, the water is pumped out by steam, 
and the dock, vessel and all, rise as you see in 
the drawing. 

29. Some docks at low tide are entirely with- 
out water. Such are enclosed by strong gates, 
like those of canals, which keep the water in to 
float the vessels. These also are dry-docks, al- 
though not floating docks. 

30. When a vessel needs repairing or clean- 
ing, it sails in with the rising tide, and is then 
propped up. When the tide falls the gates are 
opened, and the water passes out ; then the 
gates are closed, and the water is kept out until 
the vessel is ready to sail. These stationary 
dry-docks are constructed only in those rivers 
and bays in which the rise and fall of the tides 
are sufficient for the purpose. 

31. The city of London, the largest city in the world, 
has such docks ; its tides rise and fall about eighteen feet. 
Such, also, are the magnificent docks of the city of Liver- 
pool, where the tides rise and fall fifteen feet. Much of 
that city's importance is due to these docks, in which can 
be seen at any time steamships and other vessels from al- 
most every country in the world, loading or unloading their 
cargoes. The Brooklyn dry-dock is the finest in the 
United States. 

32. How is a ship steered? By means of a helm, or 
rudder. 

When sailors are far out at sea and no land is in sight, 
what guides have they in ascertaining the directions ? The 
stars and the mariner's compass. 




Zones and Climates. 83 

XXIII. ABOUT THE ZONES 

IN the map of the world you may see 
lines crossing from east to west. These 
lines or circles divide the earth's sur- 
face into five great belts or zones, which differ 
greatly in the amount of their heat and cold. 

2. The hot zone is called the Torrid Zone. 
When you read of any country which is so 
warm that the people wear the coolest and 
lightest clothing, and where trees, flowers, 
and fruits grow all through the year because 
no frost ever touches them, where beautiful 
birds and large, savage animals are numerous, 
where boys and girls never enjoy skating or 
snowballing, and where the sun is sometimes 
directly over people's heads, you may know 
that country is in the Torrid Zone. 

3. Countries which have such a hot climate 
are mostly in Africa, Southern Asia, and South 
America. 

4. In some parts of Africa you might travel 
many days without seeing rain, or grass, or 
trees, or anything around you but a hot, sandy 
desert ; while in other parts where there is rain 
with the intense heat, the dense forests, high 
grass and warm streams afford shelter to 
countless wild creatures, 



84 The Four Seasons. 

5. In the southern parts of Asia are Arabia 
and India, where the heat is sometimes fearful, 
and where lions, tigers, and poisonous serpents 
are feared by everybody living there. 

6. Nearer us, and also in the hot zone, is the 
northern part of South America, where no one 
ever sees any snow or feels cold weather, unless 
he climb far up one of those huge mountains 
whose tops are always covered with snow ; that is 
the land which is famous for innumerable birds, 
fishes, and monkeys — the basin of the Amazon. 

7. The cold zones — there are two of them — 
are called the Frigid Zones. They are the parts 
of the earth furthest from the hot or Torrid Zone. 
One is north of the Arctic Circle, and the other 
is south of the Antarctic Circle. There men 
can hardly endure the cold. They wear thick 
furs throughout the year. 

8. Only in the Temperate Zones do people 
enjoy the four delightful seasons — spring, when 
the farmer plows and sows, and when the grass 
and plants spring up ; summer, when trees are 
covered with leaves, and fields with ripening 
grain ; autumn, when the fruits are gathered 
and the leaves fall at the approach of frost ; 
and winter, when all nature seems asleep under 
a beautiful white covering of snow. We live 
in the North Temperate Zone, 



Warm and Cold Climates. 85 

9. You have heard that some countries are 
very warm at the same time that some other 
countries are very cold. That is true. 

10. If two boys should start from this coun- 
try in the month of March, one for Greenland 
and the other for South America, one would 
find it colder and colder, and the other warmer 
and warmer, every day. 

11. If each should write a letter home from 
there on New Year's day, one might read like 
this: 

id ■d-ietit^fiM'tstfy e&<£</ -rLe^e. C^d / d€id'au^i€Z / 



<czd jf-a-i tzd C/ e<cidt dee, <ade tc-e^fae^izd; tce-v^et-tad, 
>&dd<cc dd^-a-ia. (^-v-ed^i tdz d-wmtne-d; ^t td d-a cad<z 



&ede <£ri€zd? -tue> v-yiud'i isue-<&d dtrie. d^u^-lm /it-id & 



e de*z-£ <id 'O-etzd <tu^i-ie/L mew ^-c'-cd <nede. 

12. The other boy would write from Brazil 
something like this : 

$€i'Vi'U€idy,; -udt-c/ t<£ -id da And? d^A^id^ Cy peed j,ud£ 

dstrze dd^tztytdd'tz, 4,44- d^Ae dAtzde <tdd drle d^t^ne 

dizddddt&iiz, 'm^ded^. Cs 4Z.& ddi dw-t'mvn^'yi'tz, eixed'U, 



86 Jack Frost. 






<Ll€ZW -CUtWl 



/ 




XXIV. JACK FROST. 

|HE frost looked forth one still, clear night, 
And whispered, " Now, I shall be out of 
sight : 
So, through the valley, and over the height, 

In silence I'll take my way. 
I will not go on like that blustering train — 
The wind and the snow, the hail and the rain — 
Which make so much bustle and noise in vain ; 
But I'll be as busy as they." 

Then he flew to the mountain and powder'd its 

crest, 
He lit on the trees, and their boughs he drest 
In diamond beads. 

But he did one thing that was hardly fair ; 
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there 
That all had forgotten for him to prepare — 

" Now, just to set them a thinking, 
1*11 bite this basket of fruit, " said he, 
"This costly pitcher I'll burst in three; 
And the glass of water they've left for me 

Shall 'tchick! ' to tell them I'm drinking." 

Hannah T. Gould. 



Rivers— How Formed. 



87 




Head of River— Cascade— Mill— Overshot Wheel. 



XXV. RIVERS, CASCADES. 



1. You would not ride far on a railroad 
without crossing one, perhaps several, rivers, 
which are streams of water always flowing 
toward lower ground. Do you know how they 
are formed, where they come from, where they 
go, and what good they do ? 

2. Look at the chart and you will see 
several rivers. Some are formed by rain which 
sinks into the ground and appears again at 
openings in lower ground as springs, and others 
are formed far up the sides of mountains merely 
by the melting of snow. 



88 Rivers — Their Uses. 

3. On the chart you may see a river formed 
by rain which falls on the hills ; and on the left, 
in front, you may see a river which has its 
source, or beginning, or head, very far up a 
mountain, which is so high that its summit or 
top is always covered with snow. 

4. Rivers at first are usually very small; 
almost any of you could jump or wade across 
them. In some places they tumble over preci- 
pices, where they are called cascades or water- 
falls. But as they flow on and down, they are 
joined by other little streams coming from dif- 
ferent directions, and little by little they grow 
larger and deeper. 

5. In some places you 
would find boys and men 
having fine sport with their 
fishing-rods, lines, and 
hooks catching trout or 
other fish. 

6. As you descend the stream, you may see 
a mill so built that the rushing water may turn 
a great wooden wheel. This wheel is made 
either with broad arms like the paddle-wheels 
of a steamboat, or with buckets at its outer 
edge, that the stream may so strike these arms 
or fill the buckets as to turn it round and 
round, as shown on the next page. 




Water-wheels — How Used. 89 




Overshot- wheel. Breast-wheel. Undershot-wheel. 

Make the wheels in the blackboard drawing* 12 inches in 
diameter, and instruct the class that a mill-wheel is about 
12 feet in diameter, making- the comparison on the wall of 
the room. 

7. How this water-wheel turns other wheels 
and the stones inside the mill so as grind wheat 
Into flour, corn into meal, or to saw logs into 
boards, you will learn in a lesson further on. 

8. As the wheels of all mills are not turned 
by water in precisely the same way, you may 
see from the blackboard drawing three different 
ways of applying the water to the wheels. 

9. The water-wheel on the left hand of the 
chart is called an overshot-wheel, because the 
water is shot over it. 

10. When the water comes just abreast of the 
axle of the wheel it is called a breast-wheel 

1 1. One which is turned by a stream running 
under it is called an undershot-wheel. 

12. Such a one is used by the washerwomen 
in Paris, where it is attached to the side of a 
large, stout boat that is held fast by anchors or 
cables, and does their work for them. 



9<3 Rivers — Their Uses — Lumber. 




A Pine Forest— Lumber-men at Work. 



13. This stream that runs down hill is also 
very useful for carrying down logs. In the 
winter, when the farmers cannot plough or sow 
or reap, they go into the woods and cut down 
trees. The branches they cut off and draw 
home for firewood, but the trunks they cut up 
into logs of about thirteen feet or more in 
length, and then roll them to the bank of the 
stream, or drag them on the snow by means of 
oxen or horses. You may see some logs in the 
chart, on the bank of a stream. 

14. Immense quantities of lumber are obtained every 
year from the forests of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, California, Oregon, Maine, and Canada. 



Rivers Floating Logs to the Mill. 91 




Logrs Floating- down a Stream. 

15. As soon as the snow is melted and the 
streams are full, so that they have plenty of 
water to float them, the wood-choppers roll the 
logs into the stream, and away they go, helter- 
skelter, until they are stopped by a " boom " or 
stout log that is fastened there for that pur- 
pose. Then, one by one, they are dragged into 
the saw-mill, which gets all its power (either 
steam or water-power) from the same water that 
brought down the logs. 

16. When a log is fixed securely in its place, 
the big saw begins to saw it up into boards. 
Sometimes what is called a " gang-saw " is set 
to work, which cuts up a log at once into good 
boards or planks. 

17. A gang-saw is a frame full of saws set just the 
width of a board apart. For what are boards and planks 
used? 



9 2 



Rivers — What they Carry. 



1 8. Some rivers carry from the lands through 
which they flow rapidly great quantities of 
soft earth or mud, called silt, which they de- 
posit at or near their mouths. 

19. Noted for this are the Mississippi, 
Nile, Ganges, Danube, Po, Rhone, and 
Rhine. 

20. The mud deposited in this way divides the 
stream at its mouth, giving it several mouths ; 
the land so filled between these mouths is called 
a delta. 

21. The land on which the City of New 
Orleans stands, and for a long distance all 
around it and down to the Gulf of Mexico, was 
carried there by the Mississippi River and 
its branches. 

22. Look at the Gulf of Mexico 
where the Mississippi flows into it and 
you will see that a large part of the 
Gulf has been filled up in this way. 
The State of Louisiana is, therefore, 
growing larger every year, and the 
mouth of that great river is getting 
further and further from the City of 
New Orleans. A like effect is caused 
by the River Nile where it flows into 
the Mediterranean Sea. 

23. It is estimated that the Missis- 
sippi River carries down every five 
years an amount of silt sufficient to cover the whole of 
the State of Rhode Island twelve inches deep. 




The River Nile. 



Overflow of Rivers — Levees. 



93 




Liachine Rapids in the River St. Lawrence. 

24. After long and heavy rains or the sudden 
melting of a winters snow, some rivers become 
so full that they overflow their banks, and the 
rush of their w^ater over the low lands causes 
great destruction to property and loss of life. 
To prevent this on the lower Mississippi, men 
have constructed long, high banks, called levees. 

25. Sometimes, however, a bank bursts or is 

washed away, and the overflow does immense 

damage to crops, houses, cattle, etc. 

It was but a short time ago that the banks of a river in 
Austria thus gave way, causing the destruction of a large 
portion of a city and the drowning of many of its inhabi- 
tants. 

26. Although damage is often done in this 



94 Rise of the Nile — Its Uses. 

way by inundations, they are not always destruc- 
tive; indeed, in some places people could not 
live without them. 

27. One of the oldest and most celebrated 
countries in the world owes its existence to the 
yearly rise and overflow of a river. That coun- 
try is Egypt, and that river, the Nile. 

28. Rain is almost unknown in Egypt, and, 
consequently, without the yearly rise of the 
Nile, that country would be a desert. 

29. The Nile rises so high (30 to 35 feet) 
that very high banks have been constructed in 
Egypt. 

30. Through gates or openings in these banks 
and by means of small canals or ditches, the 
farmers conduct the muddy water of the Nile 
to their farms and allow it to flow all over their 
land and cover it with that soft mud which 
makes the soil very fertile. 

31. Dry and barren lands in Utah have been converted 
into rich and productive farms, orchards and gardens, 
simply by water conducted from mountain streams. 

32. The Nile receives its water from the lakes of Cen- 
tral Africa, which are supplied by annual rains. This 
river begins to rise in Egypt in the month of June, and 
attains its greatest height in September. 



River Banks — Canons. 



95 




The Rhine River, flowing- through Germany. 

33. Some rivers are, for long distances, con- 
fined between high, natural banks or bluffs, like 
the beautiful Rhine, which flows through Ger- 
many ; others flow between very high moun- 
tains, and in deep gorges or ravines, called 
canons (kan'yons). 

34. The Colorado River {kol-o-rah! do) is celebrated for 
its great canons in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. 
Many other rivers in the Territories of the United States 
flow through canons. 

35. Where the bed of a river is very rough, 



96 Rapids — Lakes. 

rocky and sloping, the water rushes down vio- 
lently and rapidly. Such parts of a river are 
called rapids. (See rapids in the chart.) 

The St. Lawrence River contains the celebrated 
Lachine {lah-sheen) Rapids. 

36. A lake is a body or collection of water 
which is formed and fed by one or more rivers ; 
these are called its inlets. The water of most 
lakes is fresh ; some lakes which have no out- 
lets or outflowing streams are salt. 

37. The largest fresh water lakes in the world are those 
between the United States and the Dominion of 
Canada ; their names are Superior, Huron, Michi- 
gan, Erie, and Ontario. Great Salt Lake is in Utah. 
Observe from the chart that some lakes are on low and 
others on high ground. 

38. Lakes and rivers are very useful in many 
ways ; people sail on them to different parts of 
their State or Country, and on them they send 
and receive all sorts of things, such as food, 
clothing, and building materials, very easily and 
cheaply. On account of these advantages peo- 
ple have built cities, towns, and villages on or 
near the banks of rivers and lakes. 

39. This buying, selling, and trading between people of 
different States or Countries is called commerce. Com- 
merce is carried on also by way of railroads and canals 
and the great ocean or sea. (You will learn about canals 
in Chapter XXXV.) 



A Canoe Running the Rapids. 



97 




The Hudson River as it passes through the Adirondacks. 



98 Song of the Brook. 

XXVI. SONG OF THE BROOK. 




COME from haunts 1 of coot 2 and hern: 3 

I make a sudden sally 
And sparkle out among the fern, 
To bicker down a valley. 

By thirty hills I hurry down, 

Or slip between the ridges, 
By twenty thorps, 4 a little town, 

And half a hundred bridges. 

Till last by Philips farm I flow 

To join the brimming river, 
For men may come and men may go, 

But I go on forever. 

I chatter over stony ways, 

In little sharps and trebles, 
I bubble into eddying bays, 
. I babble on the pebbles. 

With many a curve my banks I fret 

By many a field and fallow, 
And many a fairy foreland set 

With willow-weed and mallow. 

I chatter, chatter as I flow 
To join the brimming river ; 

For men may come and men may go, 
But I go on forever. 

1 Haunt, hanty a place to which one frequently resorts. 

2 Coot, koot,a. water-fowl. 3 Hern, hum, a her'on, a wading bird. 

4 Thorp, a hamlet or small village. 



Song of the Brook. 99 

I wind about, and in and out, 

With here a blossom sailing, 
And here and there a lusty trout 

And here and there a grayling. 

And here and there a foamy flake 

Upon me, as I travel 
With many a silvery vvaterbreak 

Above the golden gravel. 

And draw them all along, and flow 

To join the brimming river, 
For men may come and men may go, 

But I go on forever. 

I steal by lawns and grassy plots, 

I slide by hazel covers ; 
I move the sweet forget-me-nots 

That grow for happy lovers. 

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, 
Among my skimming swallows, 

I make the netted sunbeam dance 
Against my sandy shallows. 

I murmur under moon and stars 

In brambly wildernesses ; 
I linger to my shingly bars ; 

I loiter round my cresses ; 

And out again I curve and flow 

To join the brimming river, 
For men may come and men may go, 

But I go on forever. Tennyson. 

Alfred Tennyson, an English poet, born in 1809. 



IOO 



The Brook and Wee Elsie. 




XXVII. BROOK AND WEE ELSIE. 




BROOK and wee Elsie 
Were playing together, 
One frolicsome day 
Of the sunshiny weather, 
At "tag" and " bo-peep;" 

Naughty creature? were they, 
For the brook and wee Elsie 
Had both run away. 

One time, when they paused 
In a lovely, cool place, 

Elsie saw in the water 
Her round dimpled face ; 



The Brook and Wee Elsie, 101 

And " How funny ! " she said, 

With a wondering look, — 
" Now, how could my face 

Get into the brook ? " 

A half minute later, 

A gypsying bee 
Left Elsie in tears, 

Sorry object to see. 
" Here's another queer problem," 

The little brook cries ; 
" Now, how did I ever 

Get into her eyes ? " 

Carrie W. Thompson. 




A SNOW-PLAKE. 




NCE he sang of summer, 
Nothing but the summer ; 
Now he sings of winter, 

Of winter bleak and drear : 

Just because there's fallen 

A snow-flake on his forehead, 

He must go and fancy 

T is winter all the year ! 

T. B. Aldrich. 



io2 The Lumbermen. 




XXVIII. THE LUMBERMEN. 

ILDLY round our woodland quarters, 

Sad-voiced autumn grieves ; 
Thickly down these swelling waters 
Float his fallen leaves. 
Through the tall and naked timber, 

Column-like and old ; 
Gleam the sunsets of November, 
From their skies of gold. 

O'er us, to the southland heading 

Screams the gray wild-goose ; 
On the night-frost sounds the treading 

Of the brindled moose. 
Noiseless creeping while we're sleeping, 

Frost his task-work plies ; 
Soon his icy bridges heaping, 

Shall our log-piles rise. 

When, with sounds of smothered thunder, 

On some night of rain, 
Lake and river break asunder 

Winter's weakened chain, 
Down the wild March flood shall bear them 

To the saw-mill's wheel, 
Or where steam, the slave, shall tear them, 

With his teeth of steel. 



The Lumbermen. 103 

Be it starlight, be it moonlight, 

In these vales below, 
When the earliest beams of sunlight 

Streak the mountain's snow, 
Crisps the hoar-frost, keen and early, 

To our hurrying feet, 
And the forest echoes clearly 

All our blows repeat. 

Make we here our camp of winter ; 

And, through sleet and snow, 
Pitchy knot and beechen splinter 

On our hearth 1 shall glow. 
Here, with mirth to lighten duty, 

We shall lack alone 
Woman's smile and girlhood's beauty, 

Childhood's lisping tone. 

But their hearth is brighter burning 

For our toil to-day ; 
And the welcome of returning 

Shall our loss repay, 
When, like seamen from the waters, 

From the woods we come, 

Greeting sisters, wives, and daughters, 

Angels of our home ! _ 

Whittier, 

John Greenleaf Whittier, an American poet, born in Massa- 
chusetts in 1807. He was a member of the Society of Friends 
(Quakers). He worked on the farm till his twentieth year, when 
he entered the Haverhill Academy. He afterward became editor 
and poet. 

1 Hearth, hdrth. 




104 Scene at Niagara Falls. 



XXIX. SCENE AT NIAGARA FALLS. 

|T is summer. A party of visitors are just 
crossing the iron bridge that extends from 
the American shore to Goat Island, about 
a quarter of a mile above the falls. Just as they 
are about to leave, while watching the stream as it 
plunges and dashes among the rocks below, the eye 
of one fastens on something clinging to a rock — 
caught on the very verge of the falls. 

2. Scarcely willing to believe his own vision, he 
directs the attention of his companions. 

3. The terrible news spreads like lightning, and 
in a few minutes the bridge and the surrounding 
shore are covered with thousands of spectators. 
" Who is he ? " " How did he get there ? " are ques- 
tions every person proposed, but answered by none. 

4. No voice is heard above the awful flood, but a 
spy-glass shows frequent efforts to speak to the 
gathering multitude. Such silent appeals exceed 
the eloquence of words ; they are irresistible, and 
something must be done. 

5. A small boat is soon upon the bridge, and with 
a rope attached sets out upon its fearless voyage, 
but is instantly sunk. Another and another are 
tried, but they are all swallowed up by the angry 
waters. A large one might possibly survive ; but 
none is at hand. 



These falls, one of the wonders of the world, are in the Niagara River, 
between New York and Canada. Their height is 160 feet. 



Scene at Niagara Falls. 105 

6. Away to Buffalo a car is dispatched, and never 
did the iron-horse thunder along its steel-bound 
track on such a godlike mission. Soon the most 
competent life-boat is upon the spot. 

7. All eyes are fixed upon the object, as, trem- 
bling and tossing amid the boiling white waves, it 
survives the roughest waters. One breaker past and 
it will have reached the object of its mission. But 
being partly filled with water and striking a sunken 
rock, the next wave sends it hurling to the bottom. 

8. An involuntary groan passes through the dense 
multitude, and hope scarcely nestles in a single 
bosom. The sun goes down in gloom, and as dark- 
ness comes on and the crowd begins to scatter, 
methinks the angels looking over the battlements 
on high drop a tear of pity on the scene. The sil- 
very stars shine dimly through their curtain of blue. 

9. Long before morning he must be swept over 
that dreadful abyss ; he clings to that rock with all 
the tenacity of life, and as he surveys the horrors of 
his position strange visions in the air come looming 
up before him. He sees his home, his wife and 
children there ; he sees the home of his childhood ; 
he sees that mother as she used to soothe his child- 
ish fears upon her breast ; he sees a watery grave, 
and then the vision closes in tears. 

10. No sooner does morning dawn than the mul- 
titude again rush to the scene of horror. Soon a 
shout is heard ; he is there — he is still alive! Just 
now a carriage arrives upon the bridge, and a woman 
leaps from it and rushes to the most favorable point 
of observation. 



106 Scene at Niagara Falls. 

ii. All eyes are turned for a moment toward the 
anxious woman, and no sooner is the glass handed 
to her, fixed upon the object, than she shrieks, u Oh, 
my husband ! " and sinks senseless to the earth. 

12. The excitement, before intense, seems now 
almost unendurable, and something must again be 
tried. A small raft is constructed, and, to the sur- 
prise of all, swings up beside the rock to which the 
sufferer has clung for the last forty-eight hours. He 
instantly throws himself full length upon it. 

13. Thousands are pulling at the end of the rope, 
and with skillful management a few rods are gained 
toward the nearest shore. 

14. What tongue can tell, what pencil can paint, 
the anxiety with which that little bark is watched 
as, trembling and tossing amid the roughest waters, 
it nears that rock-bound coast ? 

15. Save Niagara's eternal roar, all is silent as the 
grave. His wife sees it and is only restrained by 
force from rushing into the river. Hope instantly 
springs into every bosom, but it is only to sink into 
deeper gloom. The angel of death has spread his 
wings over that little bark; the poor man's strength 
is almost gone ; each wave lessens his grasp, but all 
will be safe if that nearest wave is past. 

16. But that next surging billow breaks his hold 
upon the pitching timbers, and hurls him to the 
awful verge, where, with body erect, hands clenched, 
and eyes that are taking their last look of earth, he 
sinks forever from the gaze of man. 

Charles Tarson. 



The Water-MilL 



XXX. THE WATER-MILL. 



107 




H ! listen to the water-mill, through all the 

live-long day, 
As the clicking of the wheels wears hour by 
hour away ; 
How languidly the autumn wind doth stir the with- 
ered leaves, 
As on the field the reapers sing, while binding up 

the sheaves ! 
A solemn proverb strikes my mind, and as a spell is 

cast, — 
" The mill will never grind again with water that is 
past." 

Oh ! clasp the proverb to thy soul, dear loving heart 

and true, 
For golden years are fleeting by, and youth is passing 

too ; 
Ah ! learn to make the most of life, nor lose one 

happy day, 
For time will ne'er return sweet joys neglected, 

thrown away ; 
Nor leave one tender word unsaid, thy kindness sow 

broadcast, — 
11 The mill will never grind again with water that is 

past." 

Oh! the wasted hours of life, that have swiftly 
drifted by, 

Alas! the good we might have done, all gone with- 
out a sigh ; 



108 The Water- Mill 

Love that we might once have saved by a single 

kindly word, 
Thoughts conceived but ne'er expressed, perishing 

unpenned, unheard. 
Oh ! take the lesson to thy soul, forever clasp it fast, 
u The mill will never grind again with water that is 

past." 

Work on while yet the sun doth shine, thou man of 

strength and will, 
The streamlet ne'er doth useless glide by clicking 

water-mill ; 
Nor wait until to-morrow's light beams brightly on 

thy way. 
For all that thou canst call thine own, lies in the 

phrase " to-day : " 
Possessions, power, and blooming health, must all 

be lost at last, — 
" The thill will never grind again with water that is 

past." 

Oh ! love thy God and fellow man, thyself consider 

last, 
For come it will when thou must scan dark errors of 

the past ; 
Soon will this fight of life be o'er, and earth recede 

from view, 
And heaven in all its glory shine where all is pure 

and true. 
Ah ! then thou'lt see more clearly still the proverb 

deep and vast, 
" The mill will never grind again with water that is 

past." D. C. McCallum. 



Hoiv Windmills Work. 



109 



XXXI. THE WINDMILL. 



1. HERE is a 

windmill. This 
is a machine by 
means of which 
we take hold of 
the wind, that 
we cannot see, 
and make it do 




Taking Sugar Cane to the Mill. 

work that we can see. Windmills are often 
used in this country to grind wheat into flour, 
and corn into meal, and to crush sugar cane. 

2. The large sails of the windmill turn a large 
shaft with a cog-wheel — that is, a strong iron 
wheel with teeth, called cogs, all around it. 
These teeth, or cogs, fit into the cogs of other 



1 10 Windmills used for Making Flour. 




Blackboard Drawing-. Cog*- wheels. Draw them by means of 
chalk and a piece of cord. 



wheels and make them go around, so that you 
can change in any way that is necessary the 
direction of the moving wheels. Thus a very 
large, round, and flat stone with a hole in the 
middle is made to turn around above another 
stone and very close to it. 

3. If wheat is poured into the hole in the 
upper millstone it gets down between the stones, 
and there, as this upper millstone turns around, 
the wheat is ground into flour, which drops out 
all around the edges of the stone. Sometimes 
this is done by steam-mills. This flour is sifted, 
and put into barrels, and then sold to those who 
wish to make bread, biscuit, cakes, pies, or any- 
thing else from it. {See picture on p. 16.) 



The earth gives the grain ; fire gives its power to the steam-mill, and is used 
in baking the bread ; water must be mixed with the flour to make dough ; air 
must be got into the dough so as to raise it up and make it light ; air also helps 
the windmill to grind the flour ; it is, therefore, clear that fire, air, earth, and 
water all contribute to the making of our bread. 



Windmills in Foreign Cotintries. 1 1 1 



4. In Holland, where the land in some 
places is lower than the surface of the sea, hun- 
dreds of windmills are placed along the dikes 
for the same purpose. They can also be seen 
in this country near some large country-seats, 
where they are used to pump up water, so that 
it may be had in the highest stories of the 
houses. 

5. Near one of the Prussian palaces in Pots- 
dam stands a celebrated windmill. Frederick 
the Great desired to purchase it, that he might 
pull it down for the purpose of extending his 
gardens in that direction; the miller refused, 
and the king brought a suit against him, but 
was beaten in the court. 

6. He then erected for the miller the pres- 
ent large mill, as a mon- 
ument of Prussian jus- 
tice. Some years since, 
the owner, having met 
with reverses, offered to 
sell the mill to the king, 
who immediately set- 
tled enough on the mil- 
ler to defray his debts, 
saying the mill belonged 
to Prussian history, and 
should not be removed. 




H2 A Rain Storm in Japan. 







XXXII. A RAIN STORM IN JAPAN 

|N the midst of this sublime scenery, and at 
the very top of the pass, the rain, which 
had been light but steady during the whole 

day, began to come down in streams and then in 

sheets. 

2. I had been so rained upon for weeks that at 
first I took little notice of it, but very soon changes 
occurred before my eyes which concentrated my 
attention. 

3. The rush of waters was heard everywhere, trees 
of great size slid down, breaking others in their fall ; 
rocks were rent and carried away trees in their 
descent, and the waters rose before our eyes. 

4. With a boom and roar as of an earthquake a 
hillside burst, and half the hill, with a noble forest, 
was projected outwards, and the trees, with the 
land on which they grew, went down head foremost, 
diverting a river from its course ; and where the 
forest-covered hillside had been there was left a great 
scar, out of which a torrent burst at high pressure, 
carving for itself a deep ravine, and carrying into the 
valley below a landslide of stones and sand. 

5. Another hillside descended less abruptly, and 
its noble groves found themselves at the bottom in 
a perpendicular position, and will doubtless survive 
their transplantation. 

1 Sub-lime 7 , grand. 

2 Earthquake, violent shaking of a part of the earth. 



Landslips — Bridges Carried Away. 113. 

6. Actually, before my eyes, this fine new road 
was torn away by hastily im'provised torrents, or 
blocked by landslips in different places, and a little 
lower, in one moment, a hundred yards of it dis- 
appeared, and with them a fine bridge, which was 
deposited across the torrent lower down. 

7. On the descent, when things began to look 
very alarming, and the mountain-sides had become 
cascades bringing trees, logs, and rocks down with 
them, we were fortunate enough to meet with two 
pack-horses whose leaders were ignorant of the 
impassability of the road. 

8. They said, if we hurried, we could just get to 
the hamlet they had left, but w T hile they spoke the 
road and the bridge below were carried away. They 
insisted on lashing me to the pack-saddle for my 
safety. The great stream, whose beauty I had for- 
merly admired, was now a thing of dread, and had 
to be crossed four times without fords. 

9. It crashed and thundered, drowning the feeble 
sound of human voices ; the torrents from the 
heavens hissed through the forests, trees and logs 
came crashing down the hillsides, a thousand cas- 
cades added to the din, and in our bewilderment we 
stumbled through the river, the men up to their 
shoulders, the horses up to their backs. 

10. Again and again we crossed. The banks being 
carried away, it was very difficult to get either into 
or out of the water ; the horses had to scramble or 
jump up places as high as their shoulders, all slippery 
and crumbling, and twice the men cut steps for them 
with axes. 



ii4 Rush of the Torrent. 

ii. The rush of the torrent at the last crossing 
taxed the strength of both men and horses, and as 
I was helpless from being tied on, I confess that I 
shut my eyes ! 

12. After getting through, we came upon the 
lands belonging to this village— rice fields with the 
dikes burst, and all the beautiful ridge and furrow 
cultivation of the other crops carried away. 

13. The waters were rising fast, the men said we 
must hurry ; they unbound me, so that I might ride 
more comfortably, spoke to the horses and went on 
at a run. 

14. My horse, which had nearly worn out his shoes 
in the fords, stumbled at every step. 

15. A noose of rope was given me to clutch. The 
rain fell in such torrents that I speculated on the 
chance of being washed from my saddle, when sud- 
denly I saw a shower of sparks. 

16. I felt unutterable things ; I was choked, 
bruised, stifled, and presently found myself being 
hauled out of a ditch by three men, and realized 
that the horse had stumbled in going down a steep 
hill, and that I had gone over his head. 

From Miss Bird's " Unbeaten Tracks in Japan." 




About Wells. 



"5 




Section of the Ground or Rock, showing: how Wells are supplied. 

% 

A, Ground or rock through which the rain-water sinks. 
C, Rock or clay y which the water does not enter. 

B, The part in which the water rests or flows. 



XXXIII. WELLS, SPRINGS, ETC. 



1. You already know that people obtain 
fresh water from springs, lakes, and rivers. 
Where else is fresh water obtained? From 
wells. 

2. When it rains, some of the water runs along on the 
surface or top of the ground and finds its way to a river ; 
some of it is " dried up " or becomes vapor (page 16) ; and 
a great deal " soaks away," or sinks down into the ground. 
Where does that go ? How far does it go ? It finds its 



I 1 6 Pumps — Pressure of Air. 

way down either through soft, loose ground or gravel, or 
through crevices in the rock, and continues to sink until it 
is stopped by rock or clay, which it cannot penetrate. 
Therefore, if you should dig a pit or well down to a layer 
of sand in which the water rests or moves, some of it will, 
of course, flow into the well. 

3. Water is brought up from a well by 
means of a bucket, or a chain pump, or a suc- 
tion pump. 

4. A chain pump is composed of an endless 
chain, which runs through a pipe. 

5. A suction pump is one in which the 
water is made to rise by the weight or pressure 
of the air. 

6. Air is everywhere, until it is displaced by 
something else ; a cup or a pitcher, when said 
to be empty, is full of air. 

7. Air has weight, and is moved just as 
water and sand have weight and are moved. 
Like water, air can be pumped. 

8. Air rests or presses on the land and also 
on the water in the ocean, a cup, or a deep 
well. 

9. If you should remove the air from any 
spot on the water, you would see the water 
suddenly rise just at that spot, showing the 
pressure of the air on the surrounding portions. 



How Water is Pumped. 



\ij 



10. If you should suck the air from a straw 
which has one end in a 
cup of water, you would 
see the effect of air pres- 
sure in the rising of the 
water in the straw. 

ii. When a pump is 
thus placed in a well, 
and the air removed 
from it, the water rises, 
because the air which 
rests on the water in the 
well presses it up. 

12. In the first draw- 
ing, the water in the 
well and that in the 
pump are on the same 
level, because air is 

pressing down equally Rod going- down-upper valve 
^~ ±U~ „ ~.*-~ u i-U ■ open, lower valve closed. 

on the water both m- „ _ 

(In Blackboard Drawings, make 

side and outside of the THE PuMP ™ irty inches m length 

AND THREE INCHES IN DIAMETER*, 
pUmp. AliD THE WE LL TEN INCHES IN DIAM- 

ETER.) 

13. The pump is provided with two little 
trap-doors called valves, which fit tightly. The 
lower valve is fixed, the other is moved up and 
down by means of an iron rod attached to the 
handle. 




u8 



Valves — Vacuum. 



14. The upper valve removes the air from 

the pump, and immedi- 
ately the water is pressed 
up and flows out at the 
spout. 

15. The valves are so 
made that the water and 
air by pressing upwards 
open them and rise 
above them, but by 
pressing downward, 
close them ; therefore, 
the valves prevent the 
return of the water 
through the pump into 
the well. 

16. When the upper 
valve goes down, it is 
opened by the rush of 
air upward, but when it 

rises it is closed by the pressure of the air above 
it; a few strokes in this way remove the air 
from within the pump, and the consequence is 
that the air in the well, but outside of the pump, 
forces the water upward to fill the vac'-u-um. 

17. Any space which contains nothing — not even air — 
is called a vacuum. 




Rod coming up— Upper Valve 
closed— Lower Valve open. 



Artesian Welts. 



119 



i8f A vacuum may be formed by sucking the air from a 
small glass bottle, and the effect of the pressure of the 
surrounding air will be felt on your lips or tongue, perhaps 
painfully : and, if the glass be very thin, that pressure 
may crush the bottle. 




Artesian Wells:— A, A, A, Rock or clay which water cannot 
penetrate ;— B, B, Seams or Strata in which Subterranean 
Streams flowj- G, Subterranean Reservoir filled with Water 
by Rains ;— D, D, Boringrs in the Ground or Rock. 

19. A piece of leather, soaked in water and pressed 
down on a smooth pavement, adheres tightly to it by the 
pressure of the air on it. In this case a vacuum is formed 
between the leather or sucker and the pavement. 

20. In some places men bore deep holes in the rock or 
ground, from which the water spurts up like fountains. 
Such are called Artesian Wells. They are not dug like 
common wells, but are drilled by long, sharp bars of iron 
or steel, about as thick as a man's arm. 



120 Oil Wells — Petroleum. 






21. These drilling or boring tools are lifted up into a 
high wooden tower by machinery, and let fall, as rocks are 
drilled for blasting. (Such a tower you may see in the 
chart.) 

22. As soon as the bore enters a seam or channel in 
which water is confined by surrounding rock or clay, the 
water is pressed upward through this small opening. The 
pressure is exerted by the water which lies in these same 
underground channels and reservoirs on higher ground. 

23. The underground seams serve as great pipes in 
holding and conducting water to great distances ; and an 
Artesian well is like a burst in a pipe. 

24. Artesian wells have been bored to depths of hun- 
dreds and even thousands of feet. By means of them an 
abundance of water is obtained even in deserts. 

25. It is from such wells as these that the oil 
called petroleum is obtained, which is used for 
oiling machinery and for burning in lamps. It 
is from this that kerosene is now made. 

26. The oil wells of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West 
Virginia furnish Europe with about fifty million dollars' 
($50,000,000) worth of oil every year. 

27. The origin of petroleum or rock-oil is variously 
attributed to vegetable, animal and mineral substances, 
which may have sunk, many years ago, below the earth's 
surface. 

28. Some wells yield salt water, from which salt is 
obtained (pages 22 and 23). Large quantities of salt are 
thus made in New York, West Virginia and Michigan. 



Capes — Isth rpgties — Stra its. 1 2 1 

.Li** 

w<*XIV. CAPES, ISLANDS, ETC. 

1. Points of land which project into the 
water are called Capes. A high cape is called 
a Promontory. A light-house is seen in the 
Chart on a Promontory : and another on one 
of the capes. 

Two of the best known capes are Cape 
Horn and Cape Good Hope. 

2. A narrow neck or strip of land is called 
an Isthmus ; and a narrow passage of water 
is called a Strait, sometimes a Channel. A 
well known isthmus is that of Panama, or 
Darien, which joins North and South America. 
A well known strait is that of Gibraltar, which 
connects the Mediterranean Sea with the 
Atlantic Ocean ; another is Behring Strait, 
which separates North America from Asia and 
connects the Arctic with the Pacific Ocean; 
another, called Davis Strait, connects Baffin 
Bay with the Atlantic ; and another, called 
Hudson Strait, connects Hudson Bay with 
the Atlantic. 

3. These straits received their names from 
distinguished navigators who discovered them. 



122 Islands — Pent, *~u las— Tunnels. 

<*, 

4. Hudson entered Hudson v ">rait and dis- 
covered Hudson Bay, which he the ^ht was 
the Pacific Ocean; but, of course, he wa^- v ^ S - 
taken. He also explored Hudson River. 

5. What is the difference between an Island 
and a Peninsula? An Island is entirely sur- 
rounded by water, and a Peninsula is almost 
surrounded by water. 

On a map of the world you may find the 
following islands : 

6. Australia, which is the largest island in the world, 
and is celebrated for its rich gold mines and large flocks of 
sheep. Borneo, which is crossed by the Equator and is 
very hot. The British Isles, which include England, 
Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The Japan Islands, 
which have almost as many inhabitants as the United 
States. The West Indies, which have a warm climate 
and produce sugar and oranges. The Friendly and the 
Society Islands, also warm, which produce bananas 
and cocoanuts. 

7. A little west of the center of the Chart you 
may see a Tunnel cut through the solid rock 
for trains to pass through. A celebrated tun- 
nel is in the western part of Massachusetts. It 
is cut through the mountains and is nearly five 
miles long; it is the Hoosac Tunnel. The 
Mount Cenis (se-ne') tunnel through the Alps 
is nearly eight miles long. Several tunnels 



Emigrants. 



123 



pass under the Thames, the river which flows 
through the city of London. It is proposed to 
construct a railroad tunnel under the Hudson 
River between New York and Jersey City. 




Emigrants crossing* the Mountains— a Mountain Pass. 

8. Not far from the tunnel you may see a 
company of emigrants* on their way west. They 
may be from some of the large cities of the 
States, or they may have lately arrived in this 
country from Germany, England, Sweden, Nor- 
way, or other part of Europe, intending to buy 
land in one of our Western States or Terri- 
tories and become industrious farmers. 

* In the Country or State which they leave they are called Emigrants ; in 
that which they enter, Immigrants. 



I2 4 



View on a Canal. 





Canals ; Theii' Uses. 125 

XXXV. CANALS. 

j|N the chart you may see a canal with 
several locks and gates. Canal-boats 
are drawn by horses or mules. Some 
are moved by steam. Canals are artificial rivers. 

2. There is one in the State of New York 
that is three hundred and fifty-two miles long. 
It reaches from Lake Erie to the Hudson 
River ; and this canal has done much to make 
the city, as well as the State, of New York so 
large and wealthy as it is. 

3. If you will look at your map you will see 
that any kind of produce from the farms, the 
forests, or the mines can be brought by vessels 
from the far western shore of Lake Superior 
or of Lake Michigan, many hundreds of 
miles distant, all the way by water to Buffalo, 
thence by this long canal to the Hudson 
River, and down this river to the wharves 
of New York City, from which it can reach 
all the navigable waters in the world. This 
water-carriage is the cheapest of all. There 
are no rails to be paid for or to put down, but 
any man can move about wherever he chooses, 
up and down the navigable rivers, or to and 
fro for thousands of miles " over the broad 
bosom of the ocean." 

4. Look at the map, and you will see that a sailing 



126 Canal-locks — How Constructed. 

voyage from Lake Superior or Lake Michigan includes 
Lake Huron and Lake Erie. 

5. The only difficulty about some canals is 
that they will freeze up in winter. Then the 
railroads get the better of them, and carry large 
quantities of goods during the long winter 
months. 

6. This large canal, however, which is called 
the Erie Canal, is only about half as long as 
one in China, which runs from the great city 
of Pekin to the great river Yangtse Kiang. 
There are said to be about four hundred canals 
in China. 

7. These are used not only as water highways to float 
goods or produce from place to place, but also for irriga- 
tion — that is, to water the fields, so that the plants may 
grow better, and thus yield a more abundant crop. 

8. In Egypt, where it very seldom rains, the land is 
watered in this way by water from the Nile River. 

9. In canals they have a curious way of mak- 
ing boats climb up hill ; for canals must some- 
times be made on ground that is high in one 
part and low in another. Where a high and a 
low level meet, as shown in the blackboard 
drawing, it is necessary to build what is called a 
lock, perhaps because it locks the parts together. 
This is a shaft or well-hole of stone, carefully 
laid in cement so as to be water-tight, ex- 
tending down from the upper to the lower level 



Canal-locks — How Used. 



127 



of the canal with a gate on one side, at the bot- 
tom, opening into the lower level, and another 
on the opposite side, at the top, opening into 
the upper level. These gates or doors can be 
shut so as to be water-tight. 




Canal. A boat at low level about to enter a lock so as to reach 
the upper level. Lower grate, A, opens to admit boat ; upper 
grate, B, closed. 

10. When a boat is to go up hill, the door at 
the top being closed, the one at the bottom i§ 
opened, and the boat floats through into the 
lock. 




Boat in canal-lock, lower g-ate, A, about to be closed. Water 
to be let into lock from upper canal until the lock is fulL 

11. That door is then closed and the upper 
one, or a valve in it, is gradually opened, letting 



128 How Canal-boats are Raised. 

the water run down into the lock until the water 
in the lock is on a level with that in the upper 
canal. The upper door or gate is then opened, 
and the boat floats out upon the upper level. 




Upper grate, B, is opened, and the boat enters upper canal. 

12. Where a canal passes through land which 
is hilly or sloping, there are sometimes so many 
locks as to resemble a flight of stairs, as shown 
on the chart, in the middle-ground. 

13. Canal-boats going from Albany to Buf- 
falo on the Erie Canal must ascend, as shown 
in the drawing above ; so also on the Wel- 
land Canal, from Lake Ontario to Lake 
Erie ; and on the Canal by which steamboats 
on their way from Montreal to Lake On- 
tario avoid the rapids in the St. Lawrence 
River. 

14. Welland Canal is the only route by which boats 
can sail between Lakes Erie and Ontario, because the falls 
(160 feet high) in Niagara River render navigation be- 
tween these two lakes impossible by way of that river. 



How Canal-boats are Lowered. 129 




Boat descending* and about to enter the lock. 

15. When a boat is to go from a high to a 
low level, the order of opening and closing 
the gates is simply reversed. 

16. When the boat reaches the upper, closed gates, the 
lower gates are closed ; then the water is let into the lock 
until it is full. The upper gates are then swung open 
against the sides of the canal and the boat enters the lock. 



Boat in lock, and about to descend to the lower level. 

17. It is now easy to see that by letting the water 
out of the lock and by opening the lower gates, the upper 
gates remaining closed, the boat settles down with the 
water and passes out on the lower level. 




1 30 The Brave Boy ; or, 

XXXVI. THE LEAK IN THE DIKE. 

A STORY OF A BRAVE BOY IN HOLLAND. 

HE good dame looked from her cottage 
At the close of the pleasant day, 
And cheerily called to her little son 
Outside the door at play : 
" Come, Peter, come ! I want you to go, 

While there is light to see, 
To the hut of the blind old man who lives 

Across the dike, for me ; 
And take these cakes I made for him, 

They are hot and smoking yet ; 
You have time enough to go and come 
Before the sun is set." 

Then the good-wife turned to her labor, 

Humming a simple song, 
And thought of her husband, working hard 

At the sluices all day long ; 
And set the turf a-blazing, 

And brought the coarse black bread ; 
That he might find a fire at night, 

And find the table spread. 

And Peter left the brother, 

With whom all day he'd played, 
And the sister who had watched their sports 

In the willow's tender shade ; 



The Leak in the Dike. 1 3 1 

. And told them they'd see him back before 
They saw a star in sight, 
Though he wouldn't be afraid to go 
In the very darkest night ! 

For he was a brave, bright fellow, 

With eye and conscience clear ; 
He could do whatever a boy might do, 

And he had not learned to fear. 
Why, he wouldn't have robbed a bird's nest, 

Nor brought a stork to harm, 
Though never a law in Holland 

Had stood to stay his arm ! 

And now, with his face all glowing, 

And eyes as bright as the day 
With the thoughts of his pleasant errand, 

He trudged along the way ; 
And soon his joyous prattle 

Made glad a lonesome place — 
Alas ! if only the blind old man 

Could have seen that happy face — 
Yet he somehow caught the brightness 

Which his voice and presence lent ; 
And he felt the sunshine come and go 

As Peter came and went. 

And now, as the day was sinking, 

And the winds began to rise, 
The mother looked from her door again, 

Shading her anxious eyes ; 



132 The Brave Boy ; or, 

And saw the shadows deepen, 

And birds to their homes come back, 
But never a sign of Peter 

Along the level track. 
But she said, " He will come at morning, 

So I need not fret or grieve — 
Though it isn't like my boy at all 

To stay without my leave." 

But where was the child delaying? 

On the homeward way was he, 
And across the dike while the sun was up 

An hour above the sea. 
He was stopping now to gather flowers, 

Now listening to the sound, 
As the angry waters dashed themselves 

Against their narrow bound. 

"Ah! well for us," said Peter, 

" That the gates are good and strong, 
And my father tends them carefully, 

Or they would not hold you long! " 
" You're a wicked sea," said Peter ; 

" I know why you fret and chafe ; 
You would like to spoil our lands and homes: 

But our sluices keep you safe ! " 

But hark ! Through the noise of waters 
Comes a low, clear, trickling sound ; 

And the child's face pales with terror, 
And his blossoms drop to the ground. 



The Leak in the Dike. 133 

He is up the bank in a moment, 

And, stealing through the sand, 
He sees a stream not yet so large 

As his slender, childish hand. 
'Tis a leak in the dike ! He is but a boy, 

Unused to fearful scenes ; 
But, young as he is, he has learned to know 

The dreadful thing that means. 

A leak in the dike ! The stoutest heart 

Grows faint that cry to hear, 
And the bravest man in all the land 

Turns white with mortal fear. 
For he knows the smallest leak may grow 

To a flood in a single night ; 
And he knows the strength of the cruel sea 

When loosed in its angry might. 

And the boy ! He has seen the danger, 

And, shouting a wild alarm, 
He forces back the weight of the sea 

With the strength of his single arm ! 
He listens for the joyful sound 

Of a footstep passing nigh ; 
And lays his ear to the ground to catch 

The answer to his cry. 
And he hears the rough winds blowing, 

And the waters rise and fall, 
But never an answer comes to him, 

Save the echo of his call. 
He sees no hope, no succor, 

His feeble voice is lost ; 



1 34 The Brave Boy ; or, 

Yet what shall he do but watch and wait, 
Though he perish at his post. 

So, faintly calling and crying 

Till the sun is under the sea, 
Crying and moaning till the stars 

Come out for company ; 
He thinks of his brother and sister, 

Asleep in their safe, warm bed ; 
He thinks of his father and mother, 
Of himself as dying — and dead ; 
And of how, when the night is over, 

They must come and find him at last ; 
But he never thinks he can leave the place 

Where duty holds him fast. 

The good dame in the cottage 

Is up and astir with the light, 
For the thought of her little Peter 

Has been with her all night. 
And now she watches the pathway, 

As yester-eve she had done ; 
But what does she see so strange and black 

Against the rising sun ? 
Her neighbors are bearing between them 

Something straight to her door ; 
Her child is coming home, but not 

As he ever came before. 

44 He is dead ! " she cries ; " my darling! 

And the startled father hears, 
And comes and looks the way she looks 

And fears the thing she fears : 



The Leak in the Dike. 135 

Till a glad shout from the bearers 

Thrills the stricken man and wife — 
" Give thanks, for your son has saved our land, 

And God has saved his life ! " 
So, there in the morning sunshine 

They knelt about the boy ; 
And every head was bared and bent 

In tearful, reverent joy. 

'Tis many a year since then ; but still, 

When the sea roars like a flood, 
Their boys are taught what a boy can do 

Who is brave and true and good. 

For every man in that country 

Takes his son by the hand, 
And tells him of little Peter, 

Whose courage saved the land. 

They have many a valiant hero 
Remembered through the years ; 

But never one whose name so oft 
Is named with loving tears. 

And his deed shall be sung by the cradle, 
And told the child on the knee, 

So long as the dikes of Holland 

Divide the land from the sea. 

Cary. 

Phcebe Cary, an American poetess, born in Ohio in 1826. 
She and her older sister Alice were both talented and successful 
writers of prose and poetry, and constant contributors to the 
leading literary periodicals of this country. 



136 Aqueducts — How Constructed, 




Aqueduct supplying city with water from lake. Dotted line 
shows the level of the lake's surface, and the height to which 
its water may rise in the aqueduct and pipes. 



XXXVII. AQUEDUCTS AND BRIDGES. 

1. On this part of the chart you see a reser- 
voir (pointing to it). It receives fresh water 
from the lake beyond and above it, and supplies 
the city by means of an aqueduct, as shown in 
the blackboard drawings. 

2. An aqueduct is a long pipe for conducting 
water. It is made of lead or iron or earthen- 
ware, or sometimes it is a large tube of mason- 
work covered over smoothly with cement so as 
to be water-tight. 

3. Near the reservoir is a tower or stand-pipe, 
into which water is pumped high enough to 
supply buildings which are higher than the re- 
servoir. 

4. A tube or pipe can conduct water down- 
wards, then upwards as high as its source, but 
no higher, on the principle that " water always 
seeks a level." 



Aqueduct Under Lake Michigan. 137 



j-J L 


V V 












J3 




^ s 


^3 Qh 




.go wit 

and co 




y\ w 


^ Oh 




U <u 


<+h 3 




• ^■1 1— H 

J3 p 


O W 

<u .22 





«*« p 
£ 


^ .2 






3 ja 
*>0 




°c 


_G - 




«-> T3 




«1— 1 


O C 








(V) « 




1^ •*-• 


(U 0) 


a 




en >^ 


s 


■p 


J3 


5 rt 


*£ >> 




73 ^ 

i-4 




1 






en 


nary 
torn 


^ 




13 O 


S ^ 




extraor 
r the b 


13 N 


+-> JH 


— ■ -0 


hJ 


en 13 


cd 




2 c 




s 




< S 






. 3 


en ^ 


cu 


10 ^ 


QJ V 




-H C3 


Ctf 


1— i 


^ 15 


£ 




138 



How Bridges are Built. 




Suspension Bridge over East River between New York and 
Brooklyn. New York is west of the East River. 

II. Bridges. 




Suspension Bridge is made by building 
two tall piers and stretching over them 
large wire ropes or cables. 

2. To these cables are fastened iron rods 
which hold the floor on which people walk, 
wagons and trains of cars pass. 

3. The oldest suspension bridges are in China. 
The Indians in South America make them 
of bark ropes, and sometimes, instead of a 
floor for the traveler to walk on, there is a bas- 



Suspension Bridges, 139 

ket into which he is put, and in which he is 
pulled over from one side of a river to the other. 

4. One of the finest suspension bridges in the world is 
at Niagara. It has a span of over 800 feet, and is nearly 
250 feet above the Niagara River. This bridge is so 
strong that ordinary trains pass over it. 

5. Another at Cincinnati, over the Ohio River, is 
more than 2,200 feet in length. Its height above the wa- 
ter is about 100 feet. 

6. The largest suspension bridge, most probably, in the 
world is that now in process of construction between 
New York and Brooklyn over the East River. It is 
3,475 feet long between the anchorages, with a clear span 
over the river of 1,595 f eet » The bottom of it is 135 feet 
above the water. 

7. Light suspension bridges are sometimes 
broken by too much vibration. This happened 
to a small bridge over the river Loire, in 
France, at a place called Angers. 

8. A lieutenant in command of a party of soldiers march- 
ed them in the usual way, without causing them to break 
step. As their regular tramp, tramp was felt by the bridge, 
it began to swing, and went on swinging more and more, 
until it finally broke from its fastenings and precipitated 
those on it into the river, where several of them were 
killed. 

9. Suspension bridges are so called because 
the floor or roadway is hung or suspended from 
the curved cables. Other bridges are built of 
stone., iron, wood, or brick ; their roadways are 
usually over or alongside of the arches. 



140 The St. Louis Bridge. 

10. A most remarkable bridge (not suspen- 
sion) is that which crosses the Mississippi 
River at the great city of St. Louis. This 
bridge is chiefly of steel, its three immense 
arches resting on four stone piers. Each span 
is over 500 feet in extent. There are two road- 
ways, one above the other. 




One span of the St. Louis Bridge. Add the two other arches or 
spans, each ten inches on the blackboard and similar to this. 

In what direction does the Mississippi River flow? 
South. In what State does it rise or begin ? Minnesota. 
In what State does it end ? Louisiana. What large 
rivers flow into it ? Missouri, Arkansas, Red, a?id Ohio. 

11. When you look at the foundations of 
bridges, lighthouses, and stone piers which are 
under water, you doubtless wonder how the 
masons built them. I shall now tell you. One 
way is to sink or drive down heavy timbers or 
piles around the place selected for the founda- 
tion, fill all around and between these with 
stone, clay, and cement, and pump, out the wa- 
ter from the enclosure ; the workmen then de- 
scend and build the foundation. 



A Diver at Work — Diving-belL 14 1 



12. Another way is simply for the work- 
man to put on a pecu- 
liar kind of a suit made 
of India-rubber, which 
comoletely covers him 
and keeps out the water. 
Glass is fixed in the 
helmet for him to see 
through. Of course, he 
must have air to breathe ; 
that is supplied by a 
hose or tube leading 
from the inside of his 
suit or covering up to a 
boat, where other men 
are carefully pumping 
air to him through the 
hose. In such suits, 
men go under the water 
to examine and repair 
ships, recover wrecks, sunken treasures, etc. 

13. The diving-bell is another means by which 
men descend and work in the water. 

14. Its principle is seen in pressing any vessel like a 
tumbler into the water, with its mouth downward. 

15. The air confined in the tumbler keeps the water out 
and displaces it, just as a block or a stone would do. 

16. Fresh air is pumped into the diving-bell as shown 
above. 




A Man in a Diver's Suit or 
Armor building* a Founda- 
tion under Water. 



142 



The Natural Bridge. 



XXXVIII. THE NATURAL BRIDGE. 






if, 









The scene opens with a 
view of the great Natural 
Bridge in Virginia. There 
are three or four lads stand- 
ing in the channel below, 
looking up with awe 1 to that 
vast arch of unhewn rocks, 
which the Almighty bridged 
over those everlasting abut- 
ments, " when the morning 
stars sang together. ,, The 
little piece of sky spanning 



Awe, aw, not ore. 
The Natural Bridge is situated 115 miles west of Richmond, Virginia. 



The Natural Bridge. 143 

those measureless piers 1 is full of stars, although it 
is mid-day. It is almost five hundred feet from 
where they stand, up those perpendicular bul'warks 
of limestone to the key of that vast arch, which ap- 
pears to them only the size of a man's hand. The 
silence of death is rendered more impressive by the 
little stream that falls from rock to rock down the 
channel. The sun is darkened, and the boys have 
uncovered their heads, as if standing in the presence- 
chamber of the Majesty of the whole earth. 

2. At last this feeling begins to wear away; they 
look around them, and find that others have been 
there before them. They see the names of hundreds 
cut in the limestone abutments. A new feeling 
comes over their young hearts, and their knives are 
in their hands in an instant. " What man has done, 
man can do," is their watchword, while they draw 
themselves up and carve their names a foot above 
those of a hundred full-grown men who have been 
there before them. 

3. They are all satisfied with this feat of physical 2 
exertion except one, whose example illustrates per- 
fectly the forgotten truth, that there is " no royal 
road to learning." This ambitious youth sees a 
name just above his reach — a name which will be 
green in the memory of the world when those of 
Alexander, 3 Caesar, and Bonaparte 4 shall have rotted 
in oblivion. 5 



1 Piers, peers. 3 Alexander, Al-ex-an'der, not el. 

2 Physical, fiz'e-kal. 4 Bonaparte, bo-na-part. 

5 Oblivion, ob-liv'e-on. 



144 The Natural Bridge. 

4. It was the name of WASHINGTON. Before 
he marched with BracTdock to that fatal field, he 
had been there and left his name, a foot above any 
of his pred-e-ces'sors. It was a glorious thought to 
write his name side by side with that great " Father 
of his country/' 

5. He grasps his knife with a firmer hand, and 
clinging to a little jutting crag, he cuts again into the 
limestone, about a foot above where he stands ; he 
then reaches up and cuts another for his hands. 

6. 'Tis a dangerous adventure ; but as he puts 
his feet and hands into those gains, and draws 
himself up carefully to his full length, he finds him- 
self a foot above every name chronicled x in that 
mighty wall. 

7. While his companions are regarding him with 
concern and admiration, he cuts his name in wide 
capitals, large and deep, in that flinty album. 2 His 
knife is still in his hand, and strength in his sinews, 3 
and a new created aspiration in his heart. 

8. Again he cuts another niche, 4 and again he 
carves his name in larger capitals. This is not 
enough ; heedless of the entreaties of his com- 
panions, he cuts and climbs again. 

9. The gradations of his ascending scale grow 
wider apart. He measures his length at every gain 
he cuts. The voices of his friends wax 5 weaker and 
weaker, till their words are finally lost on his ear. 
He now for the first time casts a look beneath him. 

1 Chronicled, kron'e-kuld. 3 Sinews, sin'uze. 

2 Album, til' bum, 4 Niche, nitsh, 

5 Wax, grow. 



The Na tu ra I Bridge. 145 

10. Had that glance lasted a moment, that 
moment would have been his last. He clings with 
a convulsive shudder to his little niche in the rock. 
An awful abyss 1 awaits his almost certain fall. He 
is faint with severe exertion and trembling from the 
sudden view of the dreadful destruction to which he 
is exposed. 

11. His knife is worn half-way to the haft. He 
can hear the voices but not the words of his terror- 
stricken companions below. 

12. What a moment! What a meagre 2 chance 
to escape destruction ! There is no retracing his 
steps. It is impossible to put his hands into the 
same niche with his feet, and retain his slender 
hold a moment. 

13. His companions instantly perceive his new 
and fearful dilemma, 3 and await his fall with emo- 
tions that freeze their young blood. He is too 
high to ask for his father and mother, his brother 
and sister, to come and witness or avert his destruc- 
tion. But one of his companions anticipates his 
desire. 

14. Swift as the wind, he bounds down the chan- 
nel, and the situation of the fated boy is told upon 
his father's hearthstone. 4 Minutes of almost eternal 
length roll on, and there are hundreds on the 
bridge above, all holding their breath, and waiting 
the fearful catastrophe. 



1 Abyss, d-bis/ 3 Dilemma, di-lem'ma. 

- Meagre, mfghur. 4 Hearthstone, hdrth-stone. 



146 The Natural Bridge. 

15. The poor boy hears the hum of new and numer- 
ous voices both above and below. He can just dis- 
tinguish the tones of his father, who is shouting with 
all the energy of despair — " William ! William ! don't 
look down ! Your mother, and Henry, and Harriet 
are all praying for you ! Don't look down ! Keep 
your eyes toward the top ! " 

16. The boy didn't look down. His eye is fixed 
like a flint towards Heaven, and his young heart on 
Him who reigns 1 there. 

17. He grasps again his knife. He cuts another 
niche, and another foot is added to the hundreds 
that remove him from the reach of human help 
below. 

18. How carefully he uses his wasting blade! 
How anxiously he selects the softest places in that 
vast pier ! How he avoids every flinty grain ! How 
he economizes 2 his physical power, resting a moment 
at each gain he cuts ! How every motion is watched 
from below ! There stand his father, mother, brother 
and sister on the very spot where, if he fall, he will 
not fall alone. 

19. The sun is half way down in the west. The 
lad has made fifty additional niches in that mighty 
wall, and now finds himself directly under the middle 
of that vast arch 3 of rock, earth, and trees. He 
must cut his way in a new direction, to get from 
this over-hanging mountain. 



Reigns, rdnes. 2 Economizes, e-kdn'd-miz-ez, 

3 Arch, artsh. 



The Natural Bridge. 1 4 y 

20. The inspiration of hope is in his bosom ; 
its vi'tal heat is fed by the increasing shouts of 
hundreds perched * upon cliffs, rocks, and trees, 
and of others who stand with ropes in their hands 
upon the bridge above, or with ladders below. 

21. Fifty more gains must be cut before the long- 
est rope can reach him. His wasting blade strikes 
again into the limestone. The boy is emerging 2 
painfully, foot by foot, from under that lofty arch. 
Spliced 3 ropes are in the hands of those who are 
leaning over the outer edge of the bridge. Two 
minutes more, and all will be over. 

22. The blade is worn to the last half inch. The 
boy's head reels ; his eyes are starting from their 
sockets. His last hope is dying in his heart ; his 
life must hang upon the next gain he cuts. That 
niche is his last. 

23. At the last flint gash he makes, his knife — 
his faithful knife — falls from his little nerveless hand, 
and ringing along the precipice, falls at his mother's 
feet. An involuntary groan of despair runs like 
a death-knell through the channel below, and all 
is still as the grave. 

24. At the height of nearly three hundred feet, 
this fainting boy lifts his devoted heart and closing 
eyes to commend his soul to GOD. 'Tis but a 
moment — there! One foot swings off! He is reel- 
ing, trembling — toppling over into eternity ! 



Perched, purtshd. 2 Emerging, e-merg'ing. 

3 Spliced, splisd. 



148 The Natural Bridge. 

25. Hark! — a shout falls on his ears from above! 
The man who is lying with half his length over the 
bridge, has caught a glimpse of the boy's he^d and 
shoulders. 

26. Quick as thought, the noosed rope is within 
reach of the sinking youth. No one breathes. With 
a faint convulsive effort, the swooning boy drops 
his arm into the noose. 

27. Darkness comes over him and with the words 
" GOD ! M and " Mother ! " whispered on his lips just 
loud enough to be heard in heaven — the tightening 
rope lifts him out of his last shallow niche. 

28. Not a lip moves while he is dangling over 
that fearful abyss ; but when a sturdy Virginian 
reaches down and draws up the lad, and holds him 
up in his arms before the tearful, breathless multi- 
tude — such shouting! and such leaping and weeping 
for joy never greeted a human being so recovered 
from the yawning gulf of eternity. 

BURRITT. 

Elihu Burritt, the son of a shoemaker, was educated in the 
common schools, and at the age of 16 apprenticed to a black- 
smith. In the intervals of labor he read and studied much, mas- 
tered several languages, and became author, editor, lecturer, and 
United States Consul at Birmingham, England. He was known 
as "The Learned Blacksmith." He was born in Connecticut in 
1811. 



Each pupil may write a letter or composition about the 
Natural Bridge, and describe this adventure in his or her 
own language. Do not copy any part. On what occasion did 
Washington march with BraddockP Who was Braddock? 
What was his fate ? How old was Washington when he served 
under Braddock ? Write what you know of the battle in which 
Braddock was killed. 



Balloons — Why They Rise. 



149 




Excursion in a Balloon. 



XXXIX. BALLOONS. 



1. Here is a balloon. The first balloons were 
made in 1783, of paper, and were made to rise 
by heated air coming from chopped straw 
that was burned in a wire grating below them. 
This heated air, being lighter than the common 
air about it, makes the balloon rise up, just as a 
cork does in water. (Afterwards pure hydrogen 
gas was used, and then carburetted hydrogen, 
which is what we use to burn in our houses.) 

2. The first man who ever dared to go up in a balloon 
was a young Frenchman (named De Rozier), who was 
killed two years after (1785) by the burning of his balloon. 
Two persons crossed the Straits of Dover in a balloon 
in that same year. The first woman balloonist (Madame 
Blanchard),after several ascensions,attempted to set off some 



150 Balloons — How Moved and Used. 

fireworks while rising up from a garden near Paris in 1796. 
Her balloon caught fire, and she was dashed to pieces. 

3. An English a'er-o-naut or balloonist made 1,400 
ascensions, crossing the English Channel three times 
and falling into it twice. In the highest strata of air reached 
by balloons men suffer severely from cold, no matter how 
hot the day may be on the ground they leave. The breath- 
ing becomes difficult, the pulse much quickened, and the 
throat parched. The highest mountain in the world is 5^ 
miles high, but in 1862 two Englishmen ascended to the 
height of 37,000 feet, or 7 miles. Both, however, were 
nearly killed by the cold. 

4. A balloon moves about very easily in the 
air, so that a very slight change of weight will 
affect it seriously. 

5. Soon after the invention of balloons they 
were used in war, being held fast by a long rope, 
while some officers looked down from them to 
see what was going on in the enemy's camp. 

6. In the last war in the United States a bal- 
loon corps (kor) was organized, and news was 
telegraphed from these balloons to headquar- 
ters. 

7. On one occasion General Fitz-John Porter was observ- 
ing the enemy's lines from a balloon, when the rope broke 
and he was carried rapidly towards the enemy. Pulling the 
valve-string, he caused an escape of gas. This admitted 
enough outside or heavier air, lowered the balloon and 
brought him into a different current of air, which fortu- 
nately took him back to where he started from. 

8. When Paris was besieged by the Germans in 1870, 
fifty-four balloons were sent off at different times by the 



Spelling and Writing Exercise. 151 

Post-office Department. These carried millions of let- 
ters. Sixty-two were sent off in all during the siege, most- 
ly at night, so as to escape the observation of their ene- 
mies, the Germans. 

9. In spite of all precautions, several fell within the ene- 
my's lines. One was fired at while crossing the Prussian out- 
posts. Several were carried outside of France. One was 
swept into Norway, and landed 600 miles north of the city 
of Christiania. Three were never heard of after they set 
out, and were most probably lost in the Atlantic Ocean. 

10. Some men who wished to get out of the besieged 
city went in these balloons as passengers. Among these was 
a member of the Provisional Government, the now famous 
Gambetta, who, voyaging safely through the air, arrived at 
the city of Tours, where he joined his colleagues in the 
government. 

SPELLING AND WRITING EXERCISE. 



/■ZZ" 



\4 -ris^^M,;!^, 



■'IWTs 






r. 




v-t^A-^, 



syistz>, 






'twjCfa'&lwis, 




<e>vzse>ryi<44> , 






Why does a balloon rise in the air ? What causes it to 
come down ? What about the temperature of the air 
through which it ascends ? 



152 A Trip in a Balloon. 




XL. A TRIP IN A BALLOON ACROSS 
THE ADRIATIC SEA. 

[HERE is not a more moving story than that 
of an Italian count or nobleman who, 
during an aerial 1 journey on October the 

7th, 1804, was cast away on the waves of the 

Adriatic. 2 

2. He with two companions entered the balloon' ; 
they rose gently at first and hovered over the town 
of Bologna. 3 

3. The count says : " We rose higher and higher ; 
it became very cold. It was now two o'clock. The 
compass had been broken, and was useless; the 
wax light in the lantern would not burn in such a 
rarefied 4 atmosphere. 

4. " We descended gently across a thick layer of 
whitish clouds, and when we had got below them, 
we heard a sound, muffled and almost inaudible, 
which he immediately rec'ognized as the breaking 
of waves in the distance. 

5. " Instantly I saw this new and fearful danger. 
The sound of the waves, tossing with wild uproar, 
became louder and louder, and I suddenly saw the 
surface of the sea violently agitated just below us. 

1 Aerial, d-e're-al. 3 Bologna, bo-lone' yah. 

2 Adriatic, ad-re-at'ik. A Rarefied, rar'e-fied. 



A Trip in a Balloon. 153 

6. " I immediately seized a large sack of sand, but 
had not time to throw it over before we were all in 
the water, gallery and all. In the first moment of 
fright, we threw into the sea everything that would 
lighten the balloon — our ballast, all our instruments, 
a portion of our clothing, our money, and the oars. 
As, in spite of all this, the balloon did not rise, we 
threw over our lamp also. 

7. "After having torn and cut away everything that 
did not appear to us to be of indispen sable necessity, 
the balloon, thus very much lightened, rose all at 
once, but with such rapidity and to such a prodigious 
elevation, that we had difficulty in hearing each 
other, even when shouting at the top of our voices. 

8. " I was very ill ; one of my companions was 
bleeding at the nose ; we were all breathing short 
and hard, and felt oppression on the chest. 

9. "After having been at an immeasurable eleva- 
tion for half an hour, the balloon slowly began to 
descend and at last we fell again into the sea. 

10. "The night was very dark, the sea rolling 
heavily ; it must have been in the middle of the 
Adriatic that we fell. Although we descended 
gently, the gallery was sunk, and we were often 
entirely covered with water. 

11." The wind pressed against the half empty bal- 
loon as against a sail, so that by means of it we were 
dragged and beaten about at the mercy of the storm 
and. the waves. 

1 Prodigious, pro-did' jus. 



154 A Trip in a Balloon. 

12. " At daybreak we found ourselves four miles 
from the shore. We were comforting ourselves with 
the prospect of a safe landing, when a wind from 
the land drove us with violence away over the open 
sea. 

13. " It was now full day, but all we could see were 
the sea, the sky, and the death that threatened us. 
Certainly some boats happened to come within sight ; 
but no sooner did their men see the balloon floating 
and shining upon the water than they hurried to get 
away from it. 

14. " At last, one man better informed than those 
we had seen before, recognized our machine to be a 
balloon, and quickly sent his long-boat to our res'cue. 
The sailors threw us a stout cable which we attached 
to the gallery, and by means of which they res'cued 
us when fainting from exposure. 

15. " The balloon, thus lightened, rose in the air 
and, in spite of all the efforts of the sailors who 
wished to capture it, disappeared for ever from our 
view. It was eight o'clock in the morning when we 
were taken on board. 

16. "The brave captain of the vessel did every- 
thing in his power to restore us. All were very sick ; 
I was compelled to have my hands amputated." 



If you were above in a balloon and wished to return to the surface, what 
would you do ? If the balloon should descend too rapidly or come too near 
high trees, what would you do to make it rise ? Of what are balloons made ? 

Ascending to great heights, extreme cold is not the only danger met with. 
Our lungs are used to working under a pressure or weight of air of 15 pounds 
to a square inch. At the height of 4 or 5 miles, the air is not so dense as it is at 
the surface ; and, consequently, breathing and the circulation of the blood are 
seriously disturbed ; the blood unpurified becomes dark, and unless the person 
descends to lower and denser air at once, he dies of blood poisoning. 




PART II 



u 



Trees and Plants, 

Min ing, 

Birds, 

Quadrupeds, 

Insects. 




1 5 6 Woods — Fru its — Vegetables. 



1 TREES AND PLANTS. 

i. Trees and other 
plants are very useful to 
us, and we ought to be 
very grateful for them. 
We eat them, we wear 
them, we walk on them, 
we sit on them, we sleep 
on them, and are shel- 
tered by them all day 
and all night. Our shirts 
and collars of muslin and 
of linen are given us 
by the cotton-plant and 
An Appie-Tree. the flax. We sit down 

on chairs of oak or maple, or some other wood, 
which rest on a wooden floor, on which we 
walk. For our dinner-table the potato-plant 
has sent us its roots, or rather tubers ; the wheat 
or rye gives us our bread ; the tomato, the 
carrot, the turnip, the squash, the egg-plant, and 
a host of others all help to supply us with food, 
while apples, peaches, pears, grapes, and other 
delicious fruits are held out to us by many trees, 
bushes, and vines. 

2. If we wish to build a carriage, omnibus, 
cart, wagon, car, or railroad, the oak, the ash, the 




Bread-fruit — Rice — Coffee. \ 5 7 

maple, the chestnut, the pine, and other trees 
supply us with materials for them all. 

3. If we wish to go across the ocean, the 
trees supply us with materials for ships. 

4. If we go as far as the island of Ceylon, 
one tree there, called the bread-fruit tree, will 
supply us with bread, which hangs in small 
loaves from the branches. All you have to do 
is to take it and bake it and eat it. 

5. If you go to China or Japan, you will 
find the tea-plant, that gives us a pleasant drink, 
and you will find there also about twenty dif- 
ferent kinds of rice. Besides these is a tallow- 
tree, that supplies materials for candles. 

6. The tallow of which our candles are made is the 
suet or fat of such animals as the ox and sheep. 

7. If you should sail to Brazil, Arabia, 
Abyssinia, or other warm countries, or to the 
Island of Java, you would see fields covered 
with evergreen plants bearing small berries which 
furnish a part of the breakfast for many millions 
of people every day. What is it ? Coffee. 

8. Besides the places mentioned, coffee grows in the 
West Indies, Central America, Venezuela, Guiana, 
Peru, Bolivia, Ceylon, and some of the islands in the 
Pacific Ocean. 

9. Although the coffee-plant attains the height of 8 to 
20 feet, it is usually kept pruned to 5 feet in height. The 
plants are raised from seed and transplanted. They are in 




1 5 8 Coffee — Cocoanuts — Palm-oil — Sago. 

full bearing in the fifth year and continue to bear for about 
twenty years. 

io. Coffee is named from a re- 
gion south of Abyssinia, named 
Kaffa. 

ii. The best coffee is the Mo- 
cha, named from a place in Ara- 
bia, and the Java. Most of our 
coffee comes from Brazil, and 
much of it is marked Java. 

i2. Maracaybo (Mah-ra-ki'- 

bo), which has given its n ame to one 
variety of coffee, is in Venezuela. 

13. In Africa and Asia 
Branch of a coffee-piant. are many kinds of palm. 
These supply cocoanuts, palm-sugar, palm-wine, 
and palm-oil. The latter is used in this country 
to make soap, and perhaps some of you have 
washed your hands with this very palm-soap. 

14. Some of you, perhaps, have eaten sago in 
pudding. Sago comes from a kind of palm, and 
a very wonderful tree it is. 

15. A man can live for a year upon one of these trees. 
It seems rather funny for a man to eat up a tree, but so it is. 

16. Its preparation consists in cutting off the branches 
and also the hard outside part of the trunk. The whole 
interior of the tree is composed of a highly nutritious sub- 
stance held together by fibers. This is roughly grated or 
pounded into a pulp, which is made into flat cakes and 
baked. 

17. One sago-tree supplies cakes enough to 
feed one man for a whole year. 



Palms — Soap — Wax — Fans. 1 5 9 




Palm-Trees. 



18. The 
cocoanut - 
palm not 
only gives 
us fruit, 
but it also 
yields a 
kind o f 
o i 1 from 
which a 
soap is 
made that 
can be 
used with 
salt water. 
Another kind yields wax, used 
in making candles ; another sup- 
plies millions of fans that are 
sold in this country for a few 
cents each, though brought all 
the way from Asia; another 
has immense leaves, with which 
roofs of houses are thatched; 
and another gives us its leaf- 
stalks to make coarse brooms. 



19. The cocoanut-palm grows only in warm countries, 
and on the islands of the Indian Ocean and the tropical 
parts of the Pacific Ocean. 

20. It grows to the height of about one hundred feet, 
lives about one hundred years, and bears about one hun- 
dred cocoanuts every year. 

21. Its leaves, which are only at the top of the trees, 
are about twenty feet in length. 



1 60 Sugar-cane — Sugar -maple — Beet-root. 




Leaves: Palm. Sugrar-Maple. Chestnut. Oak. 

Draw on blackboard the palm-leaf 2 feet long: (one-tenth the 
full length), the maple 5 inches, and each of the others 7 
inches (full length). 

If the teacher direct, other leaves may be brought to 
school by the pupils, who will call the names of the leaves. 

22. Another palm that grows in Egypt 
gives us a kind of gingerbread all ready for us 
to eat. It is called the Doum palm. 

23. Some trees in South America and Af- 
rica are called cow-trees, because they give a 
kind of milk. 

24. Besides the trees that furnish bread and 
milk, there are others that yield a substance like 
butter. Of these the African tree seems the 
best, for the butter from it is sweet, white, and 
firm, and will keep for a year without salting. 

25. Besides bread, milk, and butter, plants 
yield also sugar. This we have from the sugar- 
cane, from the maple-tree, and from the beet- 
root. Enough is made from this latter in 
France to supply that whole country. It is 
just as clear and sweet as the best loaf-sugar 
manufactured from the sugar-cane. From the 



Sugar — Molasses — Syrtip. 1 6 1 

sorghum we get a sweet syrup, and from pota- 
toes and other vegetables a sweet liquid called 
glucose is obtained, which is sometimes used to 
adulterate sugars and syrups. 



Sugar- Cane. 

26. Sugar-cane is raised from cuttings planted every 
year. It was first cultivated in Asia, then in Spain in 
the ninth century. Soon after the discovery of America 
it was introduced into Mexico, the West Indies, and 
Brazil. 

27. Now it is cultivated in Louisiana, Texas, Flo- 
rida, and the other States which border on the Gulf of 
Mexico ; in Brazil, Guiana, Venezuela, Bolivia, the 
West Indies, Mexico, and Central America; in 
China, Japan, and Farther India ; in Egypt, Libe- 
ria, and Zanguebar; and in the Sandwich Islands, 
Society Islands, and other islands which have a warm 
climate. 



1 6 2 Poison-plants. 

28. When the sugar-cane is cut it is taken to the mill, 
where it is crushed between large rollers. The juice is then 
heated in large pans or boilers ; then it is transferred into 
coolers, and the molasses is drained off from the sugar, 
which is of a dark brown color. After this the sugar goes 
through a process called refining, which produces loaf 
and refined sugars and syrup. 

29. Maple sugar and syrup are obtained by first boil- 
ing and then cooling the sap of the sugar-maple tree. A 
hole is bored into the tree and a tube is inserted, through 
which the sap trickles out and falls into a pail or other 
vessel. 

30. The plants that poison us are very cu- 
rious. Some men are dreadfully poisoned if 
they merely pass near some of them. Other 
men can handle these same plants without 
being at all affected by them. There is one 
tree in the West Indies from which, if the 
rain drips upon a man's skin, huge blotches are 
raised up immediately. Some of these poison 
plants kill us quietly, sending numbness all 
through our bodies, and others kill us with 
terrible convulsions. 

31. There is one very curious plant that poi- 
sons us or nourishes us, according to the part we 
take. It is called the manioc, or cassava. It 
grows usually to the height of six or eight feet. 
Its roots are very large, sometimes weighing 
thirty pounds, and growing from three to eight 
in a cluster, usually from a foot to two feet long. 



Cassava — Tapioca — Redwood. 163 

Like the other parts of the plant, these contain an 
acrid, milky juice, so poisonous as to cause death 
in a few minutes ; but, as this is owing to the 
presence of a poisonous acid which is quickly 
driven out by heat, the juice, thickened by boil- 
ing, forms an excellent sauce called cassa-reep. 

32. This is highly esteemed in Guiana, where it is 
used to flavor almost every dish, and it is even imported 
into Great Britain. 

33. The root, grated or pounded into pulp, 
after yielding this deadly juice by pressure, is 
dried, and forms the well-known cassava-bread ; 
or else, heated and stirred on metal plates, it 
forms the well-known tapioca, which is sold in 
our stores, and served up in our restaurants 
and in our families as tapioca pudding, which 
perhaps some in this class have eaten. Thus 
life or death comes to us from this plant, ac- 
cording to our knowing how to use it. 

34. In the size of plants there is wonderful 
variety. There are some plants so small that we 
only know of their existence by their changing 
the color of the rocks and stones on which they 
grow. To see their stems and leaves it is neces- 
sary to use the microscope. 

35. From these small specimens, plants 
vary in size up to the giant trees of Cali- 
fornia, that stand 90 or 100 feet in girth and 
tower up to the height of 300 or 400 feet 



1 64 Cork — Quinine — Cinnamon. 

36. The trunk of one of these trees when lying on the 
ground is thirty feet high, which is as high as an ordinary 
two-story house. 

37. One man had the stump of one of these trees 
smoothed off and built a house on it. One of these huge 
trees became rotten at the heart and was blown down in 
a storm. The center was cut away so that a horse and 
wagon could be driven through it. They are called the 
Redwood trees. 

38. The bark of some trees is used to cover 
houses ; that of the cork-trees of Portugal and 
Spain gives us all our corks ; a certain tree from 
Peru gives us, in its bark, the fever-curing me- 
dicines called quinine and cinchona. The slip- 
pery elm gives also a medicinal bark. Cassia 
and cinnamon are the bark of certain kinds of 
laurel that grow in the East Indies. The 
oak, the hemlock, and other trees enable us, by 
means of their bark, to make leather out of 
hides by a process called tanning. Boats also 
are made of bark ; chiefly birch and spruce. 

39. There are some plants that seem offended 
if you touch them, and close up their leaves im- 
mediately. These are called sensitive plants. 
The best one comes from Brazil. There is a 
plant of this kind in our Southern States, but it 
is not so sensitive. 

40. There are also plants that give us soap besides the 
palm-soap which we have already mentioned. As you are 
walking along in California you will sometimes see what 
looks like an old paint-brush sticking up out of the ground. 



Wheat and Corn — Where Cultivated. 165 



If you should dig it up 
you could wash with its 
root as with a piece of 
soap. There 
are two kinds 
of soap-plant 
found in 
South Amer- 
ica. 



is 



There 
also 
a soap- 
pl an t 
in Eng- 
land, 
called 




soap- 
wort. 



41. The 

plants which 

furnish us with 

most of our 

food are wheat, Indian corn, 

rice, and potatoes. 

42. This country sends 
immense quantities of wheat 
and corn to Europe every 
year. They are cultivated 
extensively in California 
and the States which touch 
the Great Lakes and the Missouri River. 

43. The States which are celebrated for wheat 
and corn are California, Illinois, Indiana, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Michi- 
gan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Mis- 
souri, Kansas, and Nebraska. 

44. Countries besides ours which are cele- 



Wheat. 



1 66 



Rice— Corn. 




Cultivation of Rice. 



brated for wheat are Russia, France, and 
Austria. 

45. Rice is used for food more than any other 
grain. Millions of the inhabitants of Asia make 
it their chief article of agriculture and food. 

46. The excellent rice for which South 
Carolina is celebrated is due to a few seeds 
left there by a vessel from Madagascar over 
two hundred years ago. 

47. Rice grows also in other warm coun- 
tries. A wild kind of rice grows in the swamps 
and lakes of Minnesota. 

48. Indian corn is, next to rice, the most 
used. It originated in America long before the 
discovery by Columbus. 

49. The potato is the most useful and the 
most extensively cultivated of all vegetables. It 



Potato — Tobacco — Chocolate. 



167 



is a native of South America and it still 
grows wild in Peru and Chili ; it was first 
taken to Spain and England about three hun- 
dred years ago. 

50. Potatoes are more extensively cultivated 
in New York than in any other state ; they are 
largely used in the manufacture of starch. 

51. There is another plant 
which is also very extensively 
used in all parts of the world, 
and which, like the potato, 
was first found and cultivated 
by the natives in America, be- 
fore the discovery of America ; 
it is tobacco. Tobacco grows 
best in warm countries ; the 
ancient Mexicans raised large 
crops of it. 

52. Now it is extensively 
cultivated in several of our 
States, especially in Virginia, Kentucky, 
Maryland, and Tennessee ; also in Cuba, 
China, Japan, Persia, and Southern Europe. 

53. Chocolate is prepared from the seeds of 
the chocolate or cacao tree, which grows abun- 
dantly in Central and South America and 
the West Indies. 

54. Cacao is pronounced ka kay'o or kay'ko. The 
cocoa (ko'ko) or cocoanut tree is entirely different. 




Tobacco. 



[6& Tea — How and Where Cultivated. 




The Preparation of Tea* 

55. Tea consists of the leaves of the tea- 
plant, dried first in the sun, then in heated pans, 

and rolled. The color 
depends chiefly upon 
the age of the leaves 
when plucked, and 
upon their preparation. 
Materials for coloring 
the leaves are often used. 



56. The plant, which 

is kept pruned down to 

the height of about five 

feet, grows abundantly 

Branch of a Tea-piant. in China and Japan. 




Grapes — Where Cultivated. 169 

57. It is cultivated to some extent in the mild climates 
of California and the Gulf States. 

58. The plants or shrubs are raised from seed, and are 
picked from the third to the tenth year. 

59. Grapes 
flourish in coun- 
tries which have 
warm or moder- 
ately warm cli- 
mates. 

60. The cen- 
tral and south- 
ern parts of 
France and 
Germany, and 
nearly all parts 
of Spain, Por- 
t u g a 1 , and 
Italy, are especially noted for their extensive 
vineyards, and for the great quantities of wine 
made from the grapes. 

61. The vines are mostly kept trimmed 
down, and not allowed to grow as high as a 
man's head. 

62. Wines have received their names from the places 
where they are made or shipped from, or where the grapes 
arp cultivated ; as, Champagne and Burgundy wines, from 
ancient provinces in France ; Rhine wines, from the river 
Rhine ; port wine, from the city of Oporto (in Portu- 




A Vineyard— Gathering* Grapes. 



1 70 Vineyards — Grapes — Wines. 

# 

gal), whence it is shipped ; Bordeaux wine {bor-do'), from 
Bordeaux, the great wine port of France ; Madeira wine, 
from the Madeira Islands, northwest of Africa; Sherry 
wine, from Jerez, a town in the south of Spain ; Cali- 
fornia wines, from the State of California. 




Taking: Grapes to the Wine-press. 

63. In the vintage season, or when the grapes 
are ripe, men, women, and children go into the 
vineyards and pluck off the bunches, filling 
their boxes or baskets, which are emptied into 
huge tubs. When these are full, they are hauled 
in carts by oxen to the press-house, where the 



Wine — Grapes — Currants. i 7 1 

juice is pressed out and left to ferment, thus 
producing wine. 

64. Vineyards cover about 700,000 acres of land in 
France, and the value of the wine produced there some- 
times exceeds that of the whole cotton crop of the United 
States, which is about $200,000,000 annually. 

65. Considerable wine is manufactured in the States of 
California, Ohio, New York, and Missouri. 

66. Wine is made also from currants and berries. 

67. New vines are raised from cuttings of the previous 
year's wood. 

6&. Brandy is made from wine by distilling it, which is 
done by evaporation and condensation. (See page 22.) 

69. Grapes contain considerable sugar (about a fourth 
is sugar), which, when fermented, produces alcohol. 

70. From Spain we get our raisins, which 
are grapes dried and prepared ; and you will be 
surprised to hear that the currants which you 
have eaten in cakes and puddings are not the 
fruit of what we call currant bushes, but really 
a very small kind of grape which grows in 
Greece, and is prepared there for shipment to 
the United States and other countries. 

71. Besides grapes, the countries of Southern 
Europe raise grain and vegetables in abun- 
dance ; even between the rows of vines you may 
see wheat, or corn, or beet, or other plants 
growing. There are also great orchards or 
groves of mulberry trees, which feed the silk- 



1 72 Oranges — Apples — Cotton. 

worm ; of olive trees, from the fruit of which 
olive or sweet oil is made ; and of orange and 
lemon trees. 

72. Orange trees require a warm climate. 
They are killed by severe frost. In the United 
States they are cultivated in Florida, Louisi- 
ana, Texas, and in the southern part of 
California. 

73. Most of the oranges sold in the United 
States are from the countries bordering on the 
Mediterranean Sea, and from the West 
Indies. 

74. In cooler countries, apple trees grow 
abundantly. Introduced into America by the 
early settlers of New England, the apple is 
more extensively used in this country than any 
other fruit. Large quantities are sent to the 
cider-mill, pressed between rollers, and their 
juice converted into cider. 

75. Of all the plants, one of the most useful 
and valuable is cotton. It grows only in tem- 
perate and warm climates, especially in our 
Southern States. Mississippi, and the other 
States which border on the Gulf of Mexico, 
yield the most. 

76. It grows from seeds, and bears a pod or 
boll, which bursts open in the autumn from the 



Cotton — How Prepared and Where Sent, i j$ 



pressure of the soft, white, downy substance 
within, called cotton. This is picked out of 
the boll, and carried to a cotton-gin (jiti), by 
which it is separated from the seeds. It is then 
pressed and packed in bales, and sent to the 
cotton mills to be spun into thread, then woven 
into muslin, calico, etc. 

jj. Large quantities are sent to the cotton 
mills of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode 
Island, and other States. 

78. About one-half of the annual crop is sent 
to Europe, principally to England, where it is 
manufactured into cloth, 
then shipped to China, Ja- 
pan, South America, and 
other places, and sold or 
exchanged for tea, silk, 
fancy articles, coffee, India- 
rubber, etc. 




Shipping Cotton from New Orleans. 



174 



Cotton; Where Cultivated. 




T 



A Cotton Boll. 



79. Now, 
however, the 
American man- 
ufacturers are 
gaining a mar- 
ket for their 
goods in each 
of those places. 

80. The Southern 
States produce 
about 5,000,000 
bales of cotton 
every year. Here 
the seeds are 
planted every year, 
in the spring. 

81. Cotton is cul- 
tivated also in 

Egypt, India, China, the 
West Indies, and South 
America. Here it grows 
also on shrubs and trees. 

$2. The first cotton 
mill in the United States 
was built in Rhode 
Island. 

83. The city which 
sends away the greatest 
quantities of cotton every 
year is New Orleans, 
and that which receives 
the most is Liverpool. 



Flax — L tnen — L inseed. 



175 



84. Besides cotton, there is 
another plant which is very 
useful in furnishing us with 
material for clothing. What 
is that ? Flax, from which 
linen is made. 

85. Linen is a kind of cloth 
made from a material obtained 
from the plant called flax 
This grows to the height of two 
or three feet. It has slender 
stalks, which are covered with 

a bark or skin containing fibers or a thread-like 
substance. Flax grows from seed sown in the 
spring ; it is pulled out by the roots in sum- 
mer, and after drying, soaking, scutching or 
beating, and other processes, the fibers are 
separated from the other portions of the bark, 
spun into thread, and woven into cloth called 
linen, cambric, lawn, tablecloths, towels, etc. 




86. The seeds of the flax are called linseed. 
Like those of the cotton plant, they yield a 

useful oil and a substance which is made into 
food for cattle. 

87. Linen was known to the ancient Egyptians many 
hundred years ago, who exported it to Greece and Rome. 

88. Ireland is celebrated for its fine linen. 



i 76 India-rubber — How obtained and used. 

89. The cultivation of flax and the manufacture of 
linen are carried on extensively, also, in Great Britain, 
Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Russia, and several 
States of the Union. 

90. The city of Belfast, in Ireland, manufactures 
more linen goods than any other city in the world. 

91. You have learned something about the 
two plants which are celebrated for furnishing 
materials for clothing — cotton and linen. There 
is another plant, or rather a large tree, which 
yields a very useful substance ; not fruit, nor its 
seeds, nor its bark, nor its roots, but its sap. 
In that respect it resembles the sugar maple 
tree, but we cannot eat any part of the tree. 
We wear articles made from it, yet it cannot be 
spun or woven like cotton or linen. Do you 
know what tree it is ? The India-rubber tree. 

92. India-rubber, or Caoutchouc (pronounced 
koo-chook 7 ), is the milky sap of that tree. Cuts 
or gashes are made in the bark, into which 
cups are inserted for collecting the sap. This 
is afterwards hardened by heat, the smoke giving 
it a dark color. It is further hardened by 
sulphur. 

93. Boots, shoes, car-springs, and a great variety of 
articles are made of it in Connecticut, Massachu- 
setts, New York, and New Jersey. 

94. The India-rubber brought to the United States is 
mostly from Brazil and Central America. 



Turpentine — Pitch — Ivory. 177. 

95. There is another tree which is valuable 
for its sap, called turpentine. This is obtained 
in a similar manner; when distilled (p. 171), it 
yields rosin or resin and the oil or spirits of 
turpentine, both of which are used in the man- 
ufacture of varnish, and for other purposes. 
What is the name of the tree, and where does 
it grow ? The pine, which grows extensively 
in the sandy soil of North Carolina and the 
neighboring States. It grows also in other 
parts of North America and in Europe. 

96. Some of these trees are cut down and 
their roots and branches piled up, covered with 
turf or earth, and set on fire, to make charcoal 
and tar ; the latter is the sap, which runs into a 
large iron vessel underneath the pile, and is 
conducted by pipes into casks near by. This 
constitutes an important occupation in North 
Carolina, Canada, and Sweden. 

97. Pitch, which is very useful in ship-building, is made 
from tar. 

98. What is ivory ? A hard, white sub- 
stance which forms the tusks of the elephant. 
There is a kind of tree growing along some of 
the streams in the northern part of South 
America which is called the vegetable-ivory 
tree; its seeds or nuts contain a juice which 
hardens into a substance resembling ivory. 



1 78 Mahogany — Rosewood — Ebony. 

99. Those trees which yield wood used 
chiefly in the manufacture of pianos, boxes, 
furniture, etc., are the mahogany and rosewood, 
which come from Brazil, Central America, 
and the West Indies. Some of these trees 
are sawed into layers about one-eighth of an 
inch in thickness, called veneer, which is used 
to cover over cheaper woods. 

100. Several thousand dollars have been paid 
for the logs from a single tree. The forests on 
the coast of Honduras supply large quantities 
of mahogany ; but the best sorts, called Spanish 
mahogany, are found in Cuba and St. Do- 
mingo. 

101. The first use known to have been made of mahog- 
any was about 300 years ago, by Sir Walter Raleigh, who 
repaired his ships with it, at Trinidad, an island off the 
coast of Venezuela. 

102. Box-wood is a hard, smooth wood used by wood- 
engravers ; it comes from countries bordering the eastern 
part of the Mediterranean Sea. 

103. Ebony is a hard, black wood, used for inlaid and 
other ornamental work ; the tree grows in Madagascar 
and Ceylon. 

104. The date-palm grows abundantly in Persia, Ara- 
bia, Asia Minor, Egypt ? Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, 
and in the oases of Sahara, or the Great Desert. Its 
fruit forms the chief article of food in many parts of 
these countries. An oasis is a fertile spot in a desert, 



Spices — Figs — Prunes — Cranberries, i 79 




W 



Banyan Tree. 



105. The banyan 
tree is remarkable 
for its way of 
spreading itself. 
This is done by its 
branches, which 
shoot downward, 
take root in the 

ground, and become trunks. It is a 

native of India. 

106. The trees which yield cloves, nutmegs, mace, ginger, 
cinnamon, and black pepper, grow in Java, Sumatra, 
Ceylon, the Spice and other islands south and southeast 
of Asia ; some of them grow on the mainland also. 

107. Figs, olives, pomegranates, and almonds grow 
abundantly in the countries which surround the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. The dried figs used in the United States 
come mostly from Turkey. The olive tree, whose leaves 
are small and of a light green color, yields fruit from which 
olive oil is obtained. 

108. Bananas, pineapples, guava, and tamarinds, as 
well as oranges and lemons, abound in the West Indies. 

109. Prunes are plums raised and prepared in France. 

no. Cranberries grow on a little running shrub, in low, 
flat, sandy districts, which may, like rice-fields, be flooded \ 
covering for a while the whole surface with water, and 



1 80 Opium — Camphor — Rhubarb. 

making the meadows appear like ponds. They are exten- 
sively cultivated in the eastern part of New Jersey. 

in. We have before mentioned certain plants the use 
of which is injurious to health. There are others. In 
India, along the Ganges River, thousands and thou- 
sands of acres of land are devoted to the cultivation of a 
plant, on account of the juice or sap taken from its seed- 
vessels ; the plant is called the white poppy. The juice is 
called opium, and it is extensively used by the Chinese, 
who both smoke it and eat it for the peculiar, dreamy, and 
quieting, or rather deadening, effect which it produces on 
the feelings. Its use is very injurious to both body and 
mind. 

112. From opium, the drugs called laudanum and 
morphia or mor phine are derived. These are often pre- 
scribed by physicians to allay pain or to produce sleep. 
The opium used in the United States and in Europe is 
mostly imported from Turkey in Asia and Persia. 

113. There is another plant which yields a substance 
called hasheesh or hashish ; this also produces stupor and 
dreaminess, and is extensively used in Asiatic countries. 
The plant is hemp, from the fibres of which, rope, bag- 
ging, etc., are made ; it is raised chiefly in Russia. 

114. Camphor is a substance obtained from the wood 
and bark of the camphor trees of China, Japan, For- 
mosa, Sumatra, and Borneo. 

115. Rhubarb is the root of a plant which grows in 
Central Asia, whence it is sent to Turkey and Rus- 
sia, and then exported. 

116. Castor oil is obtained from the seeds of the castor- 
oil plant, which grows in Africa, America, and Europe. 



Sap ; how obtained and supplied. r 8 1 

1 1 7. All of you have seen an apple tree, and 
know the various forms of food into which its 
fruit can be made; but do you know where 
and how the tree gets the food which it lives 
upon ? Let us talk about this. 

118. The substances which supply it with its 
food or nourishment are in the ground and the 
air. 

119. The principal substances are called carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen. 

120. Many thousands of little mouths in the 
roots are ever on the alert for these substances, 
which go to make wood, leaves, and fruit ; 
taking them in with the water in the soil, and 
sending sap upward to every branch, twig, and 
leaf. 

121. The leaves, too, are at work all day long, 
breathing in through their countless pores, or 
mouths, moisture from the atmosphere, and, 
with the aid of sunlight, changing and prepar- 
ing the sap. Then the sap returns toward the 
roots, supplying on its way what is needed for 
every part of the tree. 

122. The roots, trunk, and branches, contain 
multitudes of little tubes or pipes, through 
which the sap flows ; one set for the rising sap, 
and another set for the returning sap. The sap 



1 82 Ages of trees — Exogens. 

is to a tree what blood is to an animal, and both 
the sap and blood are always in circulation. 

123. Leaves not only inhale (breathe in) moisture, but 
they also exhale (breathe out; it. Some of the water 
which has brought up the nourishment to the leaves, 
being no longer required, is thus exhaled or evaporated 
through the pores of the leaves. 

124. Does the apple tree enlarge on the in- 
side, or outside ; by the rising, or the returning 
sap ? The increase is on the outside of the 
hard wood, or just along the inner bark, and 
is supplied by the returning sap. 

125. Every year a layer is added; therefore, 
when such a tree is sawed across the trunk, the 

layers will appear like 
rings and show the age 
of the tree. 

126. In counting the rings, 
the pith (1) and the bark (4), 
belonging to the first year's 
growth, are not to be in- 

Section of an Exog-en of two eluded. 

years' growth. ^ , . . - 

127. I rees which thus 
grow by additions to the outside of the hard 
wood, or externally, are called exogens (ex'-o- 
jens)\ such include apple, pear, maple, elm, 
and many other kinds of trees. 

1 28. Trees and plants which increase by inter- 
nal growth, showing no layers or rings like those 




Endogens — Seeds — Cu t tings. 1 8 3 



above named, are called enl-do-gens^ such as 
palm-trees, Indian corn, 
sugar-cane, wheat, 
grasses, etc. 

129. The newest wood of 
exogens is just under the 
bark, while that of endogens 
is in the center. 

130. Endogenous trees and 
plants just described should 

not be mistaken for indigenous (in-dij'-e-nus), which means 
those which are native of a certain country or climate. 




Section of an Endogren. 




Exogren. 



Endogren. 



131. Trees and plants are multiplied in various 
ways : by seeds, as acorns, grain and cotton-seed ; 
by cuttings, as the grape-vine, sugar-cane, and 



184 How Vegetation is extended. 



geraniums; by dividing or separating roots, 
tubers, and bulbs, as the strawberry, potato, 
dahlia, and hyacinth ; and by grafting. 

132. Grafting is the insertion of a cutting or bud of one 
plant into a branch or stem of another. 
This is often done with rose and fruit 
trees. 

1 33- Vegetation is extended 
over the land not only by men, 
but also by the winds, streams, 
ocean-currents, birds, bees, etc. 




Seed of a Maple Tree, Full Size. 

1 34. Many seeds are provided 
with a kind of wing or some 
light substance, and are scat- 




Seed of the Thistle. 



fes^ 



Fern, with Spores. 



tered far and wide by the winds, 
as those of the ash, elm, and 
maple trees, the thistle and the 
dandelion. 



How a Maple tree grows. 



185 



135. Plants are divided into two general classes, 
flowering and flowerless. Flowering plants and trees 
produce seeds, each containing an embryo or undevel- 
oped plant. Flowerless plants, such as ferns, have spores 
instead of seeds. These appear like brown dust or spots 
on the leaves. Try to bring a fern leaf with spores on it 
to your teacher. 




How a Maple Tree begins to grow. 

136. The origin or beginning of a plant is a seed, which 
is a wonderful combination of all the parts of that plant. 

137. Placed in the ground, the seed sends down its roots 
to find food or nourishment and also to hold the plant 
firmly in its place. Then the stem appears above ground. 
When the plant is grown and perfect, it consists of 
these five parts : root, stem or trunk, leaves, flowers, 
and fruit. You may bring some specimens of seeds, and 
be prepared to mention the name of the tree or plant to 
which each belongs. 



1 86 How an Oak grows from an Acorn. 



138. At the end of every little root is a kind of mouth ; 
and, as different kinds of plants require different kinds of 
nourishment, these little roots, which appear like bunches 
of threads, keep spreading themselves in the ground 
in search of the particular substances just suit- 
ed to the plant which it is their duty to supply. 

139. So you may consider the roots and 
their mouths to be the storehouse and food- 
gatherers ; the long, narrow pipes in the stem 
or trunk, the channels or means of convey- 
ance; and the leaves to be a kind of 
stomach or manufactory for preparing the 
food and making it fit for use. 
That is, all parts of a tree or 
plant act in harmony with each 
other for some good purpose. 




140. There are different 
kinds of roots: 1st, those of 
forest trees, which extend in 
various directions and some- 
times to greater distances 
than the trunk and its 
branches ; 2d, those which 
appear like a bunch of 
threads or fibers, and 
which are called fibrous, 
as those of the hyacinth 
and grasses ; 3d, those 
associated with tubers, 
like the potato, and which are called fleshy roots \ 4th, 
those which taper downward and send out fibers from 
their sides, like the carrot and parsnip. 



How an Oak begins to grow. 



How Trees differ from each other. 187 




141. Roots are divided also into different 
kinds, according to their length of life ; into 
annual, or those which live but one year ; bi- 
en'ni-al, those which live but two years ; and 
per-en'ni-al, those which live several years. 

142. To which of these divisions does a 
morning-glory belong ? A rose bush ? A 
pear tree ? A currant bush ? A fern ? 
Beets ? A cotton plant ? Grasses ? Indian 
corn ? Carrots ? Butter-cups ? 

Some trees, like the oak, cedar, pine and 
olive, live for centuries. 

143. Trees differ also in their 
stems or trunks; some grow up 
for a short distance from the 

ground and then H y aciIlth - 
branch out in every direction, 
like the apple tree ; while 
others grow up almost in a 
straight line, ten times as high 
as any apple tree ; such are the 
mammoth trees of California, 
the eucalyptus* trees of Aus- 
tralia, and the cocoanut trees 
of Africa and Asia. 

The trees just named are remark- 
able for the great distance between 
the ground and their lower branches. 
The cocoanut and other palms have 
I 1 1 -3 all their leaves at the top. 

How Corn grows. * [u-ka-lip'tus.] 




i88 



About Leaves. 



144. Trees which lose their leaves in autumn 
are called de-cicTu-ous, which means falling off. 
Those which retain their leaves through the 
winter, or until new leaves appear, are called 
evergreen. An apple tree is deciduous, and a 
hemlock is evergreen. 

145. Leaves differ from each other very 
greatly in their size, shape, color, and construc- 
tion ; some have smooth edges, while others 
have saw-like edges ; some are long and narrow, 
like those of Indian corn and the sugar cane, 
while others are broad and round, like the cab- 
bage and begonia. Leaves differ from each 
other also in regard to the number and arrange- 
ment of their veins. 




Leaf Veins. Veinlets. Veinulets. 

146. Veins. — The first leaf above shows its 
stem or foot-stalk, called its pet'-i-ole (P), from 
which, at the base of the leaf, spring its veins, 
five in number. 



Leaf Veins, Veinlets, etc. 



i8q 
small 



147. Veinlets. — The next shows 
branches from the veins, called veinlets. 

148. At the end of some words, let signifies s?nall; as 
leaflet, a small leaf ; islet, a small island ; stream/*?/, a 
small stream ; root/*?/, a small root ; and veinlet, a small 
vein. 

149. Veinulets, Net-Veined. — The third 
shows finer branches from the veinlets, called 
veinulets. Such a leaf is said to be net-veined. 
With few exceptions, the leaves of exogens are 
net-veined. 




Mid- Veined. ParaUel- Veined. Fork Veined. Serrated. 



150, Mid-Veined. — Leaves having but one 
large vein, which is the continuation of the 
petiole (P), and runs from the base (S) of the 
leaf to the apex (a) through the middle, are 
called mid-veined. 

151. Parallel-Veined. — The veinlets which 
branch from the mid-vein are parallel with each 
other; the leaves are therefore said to be 



190 Leaves — Their Shapes, etc. 

parallel-veined. The leaves of most endogens 
are parallel-veined, as those of corn and lilies. 

152. Fork-Veined. — Leaves whose veins 
divide and resemble forks are called fork-veined. 

153. Serrate. — Leaves having a saw-like 
edge, the teeth pointing forwards, are called 
serrated. Serra means saw. 

154. A Feather-Veined leaf is one in which 
its veinlets branch off from the mid-vein, thus 
resembling a feather. 




Hand-Shaped. Finger-Shaped. Gashed. 

155. A Hand-Shaped leaf is so called from 
its resemblance to the palm of the hand and 
fingers. 

156. A Finger-Shaped leaf is one whose 
parts or divisions, called lobes, are more sepa- 
rated from each other than those of the hand- 
shaped leaf, and appear like fingers without the 
palm of the hand. When the leaf appears as 
if cut with scissors, it is said to be Gashed. 



Leaves — Simple and Compound, 191 




SMeld-Formed. 



Compound and Trifoliate. 



157. A Shield-Formed leaf is one which has 
its veins radiating from the petiole at or near 
the center of the leaf instead of its base. 

158. Simple Leaves. — The twelve leaves just described 
are called simple leaves, because only one leaf is attached 
to each petiole. 

159. The Gashed Leaf is but one leaf, cut or divided, 
and is therefore a simple leaf ; such also are the finger- 
shaped and hand-shaped leaves. 

160. Compound Leaves — Trifoliate. — When a petiole 
bears two or more distinct pieces or blades, the blades are 
called leaflets, and the group is called a compound leaf. 
Three leaflets together, or near together, on the same 
petiole, are called tri-fo'-li-ate (tri, three), as the clover. 

161. [The pupils may collect from the woods or gardens 
as many of these varieties of leaves as they can; then 
classify them and name their different parts ; or describe 
each leaf as the teacher holds it up ; or attach one or more 
leaves to a piece of paper, write a short description of 
each, similar to that on the following page, and hand it to 
the teacher.] 



192 Exercises in Composition. 

[Model.] I 




<ik <fre-€Zjf ^d -c-awtfeo-u.M'd / -£'£ -ad -a-tdo 






162. Besides this, the pupils may write about any tree 
or plant, as a lesson in spelling and composition. 

163. Seeds differ very greatly from each 
other. Some are inside of the fruit, like those 
of the apple ; some are on the outside, like 
those of the strawberry ; others are together, 
forming the fruit, like those of the blackberry. 

164. Some seeds furnish us with flour, from 
which our bread is made, as wheat ; or with 



About Seeds. 



193 




Violet Seed in Capsule. 




Acorns (Seeds of 
the Oak). 





Wild Strawberry and Seed. 




Cone of Hemlock Tree. Peas in Pod. Cone of Pine Tree. 

meal, as Indian corn ; while many others are 
not used for food in any form. 

165. Some seeds are enclosed in a pod, 
capsule, or case, like those of peas, pansies, 
violets, and lady-slippers ; while others consist 
of a kernel and hard shell, like the hickory nut 



194 



The Cultivated Strawberry. 




Strawberry Plants are multiplied, also, by means of their runners, 
which readily take root and which are then cut or separated from the 
parent plant. 



The Study of Botany. 



195 




Picking Blackberries. 

166. When rambling in the woods, you should examine 
some of the various plants, roots, leaves, flowers, fruits 
and seeds which you see. You will thus be easily led to 
the study of that delightful science called BO TANY, to 
which your attention has been directed in this chapter. 




Gathering: Wild Flowers and Studying" Botany. 



[96 Spelling and Writing Exercise. 



II. Written Review of Trees and Plants. 

To be written on slates or papers, either at home or in school, 
as the teacher may direct. Write, in the form shown below, the 
names of the principal trees and plants from any part of which., 
food, drink, clothing, etc., may be obtained, prepared, or manu= 
factured. 





NAMES OF TREES AND PLANTS. 


WHERE PRODUCED OR CULTIVATED. 


T 




I 


? 




2 


3 




3 


4- 




4 


5 




5 ■ 


6 




6 






g^^^C 


T 




I 


? 




2 


3 




3 


4 




A 




T- 


c 




C 


J 




-J 


6. 




6 



I I . 

2 2. 



Also, those from which are obtained 

C/i/tyeschci/sie; Chutist, C/-atd<a<zi /> ^ut^u/c^i^ <z<vi€£ 



The Corn Song. 



197 




III. THE CORN SONG. 




EAP high the farmers wintry hoard ! 
Heap high the golden corn ! 
No richer gift has autumn poured 
From out her lav'ish horn ! 



Through vales of grass and meads of flowers, 
Our ploughs their furrows made, 

While on the hills the sun and showers 
Of changeful April played. 

We dropped the seed o'er hill and plain, 

Beneath the sun of May, 
And frightened from our sprouting grain 

The robber crows away. 



All through the long, bright days of June 
Its leaves grew green and fair, 

And waved in hot midsummer's noon 
Its soft and yellow hair. 



198 



The Corn Song. 



And now, with autumn's moonlit eves, 

Its harvest time has come, 
We pluck away the frosted leaves, 

And bear the treasure home. 

There, richer than the fabled gift 

Apollo showered of old, 
Fair hands the broken grain shall sift, 

And knead its meal of gold. 

Let vapid idlers loll in silk 

Around their costly board ; 
Give us the bowl of samp and milk 

By homespun beauty poured ! 



Where'er the wide old kitchen! hearth 

Sends up its smoky curls, 
Who will not thank the kindly earth, 

And bless our farmer girls ! 

Let earth withhold her goodly root 
Let mildew blight the rye, 

Give to the worm the orchard's fruit, 
The wheatfield to the fly : 

But let the good old crop adorn 
The hills our fathers trod ; *& 

Still let us, for his golden corn. 
Send up our thanks to God. 

»\wrtf 





The Violets Complaint. 199 



IV. THE VIOLETS COMPLAINT. 

WONDER what I was created for — I am 
so weak and small," thought a violet, as 
it shook off a dew-drop which weighed it 
to the ground. " Surrounded by these leaves which 
shut me in from the world, bowed down under the 
weight of the morning dews, I must spend a worth- 
less existence, unknown and uncared for." 

2. " How I envy yonder oak ! how proudly it 
stands! what cares it for the winds, or storm. Its 
branches laugh and wrestle in the breezes that cause 
me to bow my head in fear. Even the cattle love 
its cooling shade, and there they rest from the burn- 
ing sun. It has its work to do, while I — but hark ! 
I heard the sound of thunder, I must hide my head 
beneath the shelter of these dark green leaves until 
the storm of wind and rain is past." 

3. An hour passed; the storm was over; again 
the sun looked down upon the earth, refreshed by 
cooling rain. Lifting its dripping head, the violet 
gazed in wonder ; the oak, unable to bend to the 
storm, had yielded to a stronger power, and now lay 
shattered and prone upon the ground. 

4. " My weakness has been my safeguard," mur- 
mured the violet, in a subdued, shamed tone. 

5. Just then a voice exclaimed : " Dear little violet, ' 
just what I have been looking for ; " and a hand 
reached down and plucked it from its home among 
the leaves, and carried it tenderly to a sick girl's 



200 The Rain and the Flowers. 

home. " See, Emma, I have brought you the first 
violet of the season ; it was the only one that I could 
find. Here, let me put it into this little vase beside 
your bed." 

6. " How kind you were, Ethel, to find it for me. 
I love violets so much ; " and the thin, pale hand 
reached out and took the vase, and gazed upon the 
little flower. "It is so sweet," she said, "it seems 
to bring new life and hope to me." 

7. Once more the violet was heard to murmur : " I 
was mistaken ; I have a work to do. God has not 
created anything in vain. 

N. Y. Observer. 



^ .« + >. »» 



V. RAIN AND THE FLOWERS. 




O the great brown house where the flowerets 
live, 
Came the Rain with its tap, tap, tap ! 
And whispered : " Violet, Snowdrop, Rose, 
Your pretty eyes must now unclose 
From your long wintry nap ! " 
Said the Rain with its tap, tap, tap ! 

From the doors they peeped with a timid grace, 
Just to answer this tap, tap, tap! 

Miss Snowdrop curtseyed a sweet " Good-day ! " 
Then all came nodding their heads so gay, 
And they said : " We've had our nap, 
Thank you, Rain, for your tap, tap, tap ! " 



The Death of t lie Flowers. 201 

VI. DEATH OF THE FLOWERS. 




HE melancholy days are come, the saddest 
of the year, 
Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and 
meadows brown and sere. 
Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn 

leaves lie dead ; 
They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's 

tread ; 
The robin and the wren are flown, and from the 

shrubs the jay, 
And from the wood-top calls the crow through all 
the gloomy day. 



Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that 
lately sprang and stood 

In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sister- 
hood? 

Alas ! they are all in their graves, the gentle race of 
flowers 

Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good 
of ours. 

The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold 
November rain 

Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones 
again. 

The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long 

ago, 
And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the 

summer glow ; 



202 The Death of the Flowers. 

But on the hills the golden-rod, and the aster in the 

wood, 
And the yellow sun-flower by the brook in autumn 

beauty stood, 
Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls 

the plague on men, 
And the brightness of their smile was gone, from 

upland, glade, and glen. 



And now, when comes the calm, mild day, as still 
such days will come, 

To call the squirrel and the bee from out their win- 
ter home ; 

The south wind searches for the flowers whose fra- 
grance late he bore, 

And sighs to find them in the wood and by the 
stream no more. 



And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty 

died, 
The fair meek blossom who grew up and faded by 

my side. 
In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forest 

cast the leaf, 
And we wept that one so lovely should have a life 

so brief: 
Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young 

friend of ours, 
So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the 

flowers. 

William Cullen Bryant. 



The Start for the Woods. 203 



VII. IN THE WOODS. 

O'WARDS August or September, any man 
who has once been in the woods will begin 
to feel stirring within him a restless craving 
for the forest. 

2. To a man who has once tasted of the woods, 
the instinct to return thither is as strong as that of 
the salmon to seek the sea. Let us, then, go into 
the woods. We have arrived at the last house, 
where Indians and canoes' are waiting for us. Old 
John Williams, the Indian, beaming with smiles, 
shakes hands, and says : " I am glad to see you back 
again 1 in the woods of Canada. How have you been, 
sir? Pretty smart, I hope." " Oh, first-rate, thank 
you, John ; and how did you get through the winter, 
and how is the farm getting on?" " Pretty well, 
sir. I killed a fine fat moose last December, that 
kept me in meat almost all winter ; and the farm 
is getting on splendidly. I was just cutting my oats 
when I got your telegram, and dropped the scythe 
right there in the swath, 2 and left." 

3. The first day is not pleasant. The canoes have 
to be carted ten miles to the head of the stream we 
propose descending and the hay-wagon wants mend- 
ing, or the oxen have gone astray. Patience and 
perseverance, however, overcome all these and simi- 
lar difficulties, and at last we arrive at the margin 
of a ti'ny stream. 

1 Again, a-gen\ i Swath, swawth. 



204 Canoes — Tents — Supper. 

4. Down we go, very slowly and carefully, until 
the water deepens. We then take to the paddles 
and make rapid progress. 

5. After a mile of still water we are brought up 
by a beaver-dam, showing an almost dry river-bed 
below it. Canoes are drawn up and the dam is de- 
molished in a few minutes, giving a couple of nights' 
hard labor to the industrious families whose houses 
we had passed a little way above the dam. We have 
to wait for half an hour to give the water a start of 
us, and then off again, poling, wading, and paddling 
down the stream, until the sinking sun indicates 
time to camp. 

6. In a few minutes, canoes are unladen, two tents 
pitched, soft beds of fir-tops spread evenly within 
them, wood cut, and bright fires kindled more for 
cheerfulness than warmth. A box of hard bread is 
opened, tea made, and supper is ready. 

7. Sunrise finds us up ; breakfast is soon over, 
tents are struck, canoes loaded, and we are on our 
way down the deepening stream. It is a river now, 
with plenty of trout in the shallows, and salmon in the 
deep pools. About noon we turn sharp off to the 
eastward up a little brawling brook, forcing our way 
with some difficulty up its shallow rapids till it gets 
too dry, and w T e are compelled to go ashore and to 
"carry" over to the lake whither we are bound. 
One of us stops behind to make a fire, boil the ket- 
tle, and prepare the dinner, while each Indian swings 
a canoe on his shoulders and starts through the 
woods. In three trips everything is carried across, 
and we embark upon a lovely lake. 



A Forest in Winter. 



205 



jliifcgg,- 



> £ 



o 

s 



» 

* 




.;:^v:,,'' 



206 Difficulties on Land and Water. 

8. The " carry " was not long, and there was a 
good blazed trail, so that it was a comparatively easy 
job ; but under the most favorable circumstances 
this portaging, 1 or carrying, is very hard work. It 
is hard enough to have to lift eighty or one hundred 
pounds on your back. It is worse when you have 
to carry the burden half a mile, and get "back as 
quickly as you can for another load ; and when you 
have to crawl under fallen limbs, climb over pros- 
trate logs, balance yourself on slippery tree-trunks, 
flounder though bogs, get tangled up in alder 
swamps, force yourself through branches which slap 
you viciously 2 in the face, with a big load on your 
back, a hot sun overhead, and several mosquitoes 3 
on your nose, it is almost beyond endurance. But it 
has to be done, and the best way is to take it coolly. 

9. Out on the lake it was blowing a gale, and right 
against us. We had to kneel in the bottom of the 
canoes, and vigorously ply our paddles. The heav- 
ily-laden craft plunged into the waves, shipping water 
at every jump, and sending the spray flying into our 
faces. Sometimes we would make good way, and 
then, in a squall, 4 we would not gain an inch, and be 
almost driven on shore; but after much labor we 
gained the shelter of a projecting point, and late in 
the evening reached our destination, and drew up 
our canoes for the last time. 

10. The Indian carries your blanket, your coat, a lit- 
tle tea, sugar, and bread, a kettle, and two tin pans. 

1 Portaging, porfag-ing. 3 Mosquitos, mus-ke'toz % 

2 Viciously, vish'us-le. 4 Squall, squawl. 



Moose Hunting. 207 

The hunter has enough to do to carry himself, his 
rifle, ammunition, a small axe, hunting-knife, and a 
pair of field-glasses. Thus provided, you plunge 
into the woods, the sun your guide in clear weather, 
your pocket-compass if it is cloudy, the beasts and 
birds and fishes your companions, and wander 
through the woods at will, sleeping where the fancy 
seizes you, "■calling" if the nights are calm, or still- 
hunting on a windy day. Calling is the most fas- 
cinating, disappointing and exciting of all sports. 

11. Moose-calling consists in imitating the cry of 
the animal with a hollow cone made of birch bark, and 
endeavoring, by this means, to call up a moose near 
enough to get a shot at him by moonlight or in the 
early morning. He will come straight up to you, 
within a few yards — walk right over you almost — 
answering, (" speaking," as the Indians term it,) as 
he comes along, if nothing happen to scare him. 

12. The great advantage of moose-calling is, that 
it takes one out in the woods during the most beau- 
tiful period of the whole year ; when nature, tired 
with the labor of spring and summer, puts on her 
holiday garments, and rests luxuriously before falling 
into the deep sleep of winter. The great heats are 
past, though the days are still warm and sunny ; the 
nights are calm and peaceful, the mornings cool, the 
evenings so rich in coloring that they seem to dye 
the whole woodland with sunset hues ; for the maple, 
oak, birch, and beech trees glow with a gorgeous- 
ness unknown to similar trees in England. 

13. If the day is windy you can track the moose 
and the car'iboo, or perchance a bear, through the 



2o8 Animals Found in the Woods. 



their 

limbs. 

grow 

more 



deep, shady recesses of the forest. On a still day" 
you may steal noiselessly over the smooth surface 
of some lake, or along a quiet reach of a river. 

14. Just beyond us is a little clump of pines, and 
all around, a gray meadow, quite open for about 

fifty yards, then 
dotted with oc- 
casional firs with 
long tresses of 
gray moss hang- 
ing from 
stunted 
The trees 
closer and 
vigorous till they 
merge into the 
gloomy, unbroken 
forest beyond. 

15. Haunting 1 
these solitudes 2 
are birds and 
beasts, the hooting 
owl, the beaver, 
the wolf, the cari- 
boo a kind of rein- 
deer, and the huge, 
ungainly moose. 
16. Scarcely had I sat down before I heard old 
John call gently like a moose to attract my atten- 
tion. Now it must be borne in mind that, when 




Haunting, hant'iug. 



2 Solitudes, sol'i-tudes. 



The Moose Approaches — His Escape. 209 

hunting, you never call or speak like a human being, 
for to do so might scare away game; but you may 
grunt like a moose, hoot like an owl, or imitate 
any sound made by any of the brute creation. I 
crept up quickly, and in obedience to John's whisper 
gave him the moose-caller, and following the direc- 
tion of his eyes, saw a small moose slowly crossing 
the barren some four or five hundred yards to our 
left. 

17. The moose came on boldly. We planted our- 
selves right in his way, just on the edge of the woods, 
and crouching close to the ground, waited for him. 
Presently we heard his hoarse voice close to us, and 
the crackling of the bushes as he passed through 
them ; then silence fell again, and we heard nothing 
but the thumping of our hearts ; another advance 
and he stopped once more, within apparently about 
fifty yards of us. 

18. After a long, almost insupportable pause, he 
came on again ; we could hear his footsteps, we could 
hear the grass rustling, we could hear him breathing, 
we could see the bushes shaking, but we could not 
make out even the faintest outline of him in the 
dark. Again he stopped, and our hearts seemed to 
stand still also with expectation ; another step must 
have brought him out almost within reach of me, 
when suddenly there was a tremendous crash ! 

19. He had discovered us, and was off with a 
crackling of dead limbs, rattling of horns, and smash- 
ing of branches, which made the woods resound 
again. Disappointed we were, but not unhappy, 
for the first duty of the hunter is to drill himself into 



2 io Successful Bear Hunt. 

that peculiar frame of mind which enables a man to 
exult when he is successful, and to accept defeat 
without giving way to despondency. 

20. After awhile we espied a bear, and although 
having a good opportunity, I made a bad shot, strik- 
ing the animal too low down on the shoulder, and 
only breaking his leg. With a violent snort of pain 
and astonishment, but without looking round for 
a second to see what was the matter, away went 
" bruin " down the mountain-side at a most surpris- 
ing pace. " Come on," yelled John ; " try and head 
him off; if he once gets down into the timber he is 
gone sure." And away we went after him as hard 
as we could tear. 

21. How John jumped and bounded and yelled, 
and how the bear did bound down that hillside ! He 
seemed to go twice as fast on three legs as any other 
animal ever went on four. Sometimes John would 
head the bear and turn him, sometimes the bear 
would make a drive at John and turn him, which 
would give me time to get up ; and so we went on 
yelling and whooping and plunging through the 
tangled, matted junipers, 1 the bear doubling and 
twisting and sometimes charging us, but always 
struggling gallantly to gain the shelter of the woods. 

22. I missed the bear several times, until at last 
with a successful shot I rolled him over, and John 
and I threw ourselves down exhausted beside his 
dead body. 

Earl of Dunraven. 

1 Junipers, ju'ne-purz. 



How Coat is Obtained. 



21 I 



VIII. MINING: COAL, IRON, ETC. 



i To get coal, men must 
sink a shaft ; that is, they 
must dig a great hole in 
the ground until they come 
to where the coal is best 
and most abundant. The 
hole or shaft must be large 
enough for very large 
buckets full of coal to be 
raised up from the bottom ; 
and to raise these there 
must be a steam-engine at 
the mouth of the shaft. 
This must have a house 
built over it to protect the 
machinery and the work- 
men, and this is the house 
that you see in the chart. 

2. Down below, at the 
bottom of the shaft, men 
are working away with pickaxes and shovels, 
making passages wherever they find coaL 
These passages are called galleries. In a coal- 
miner's life there are many dangers. Some- 
times the sides or roof of the gallery fall on him 




Blackboard Drawing 1 of 
a Mine, Shaft, Chute, 
and Engine-house. 



212 Dangers of the Mine. 

and crush him ; sometimes the choke-damp 
(coal-gas, or carbonic acid) comes and chokes 
him to death ; and sometimes the " fire-damp " 
(explosive gas) comes, and blows him like a 
bullet along the gallery or up the shaft, and 
sometimes it is strong enough to blow the 
mine to pieces, shattering the steam-engine 
and breaking into little sticks the house that 
covers it. 

3. Sir Humphry Davy, who was once a poor boy, in- 
vented a safety-lamp for the miners. He surrounded a 
common lamp with fine wire gauze, so that the flame could 
not get through it to set fire to the explosive gas; yet, 
strange to say, the gas will go through the wire gauze and 
burn quietly in the lamp, thus helping the miner by giving 
him light instead of blowing him to pieces. 

4. This fire-damp that kills these miners is pretty much 
the same as the gas that burns so quietly in our houses (be- 
ing carbureted hydrogen mixed with some olefiant gas). 
If, when ordinary gas (carbureted hydrogen) has been leak- 
ing to a certain extent in a room, any person enters that 
room with a lighted candle, just such an explosion takes 
place in that room as at the bottom of a mine. Explo- 
sions in mines happen every year in this country, especi- 
ally in Pennsylvania, also in England and Wales, 
and many persons have been thus injured. 

5. It is curious to get into one of these 
big coal-buckets and be lowered down to the 
bottom of the shaft. What seemed from the 
top to be like little stars or glow-worms moving 
about below, turn out to be little lamos fast- 



Coal — How Transported — Cannel Coal. 213 

ened in front of the miners' caps, so as to give 
them light and leave both their hands free to 
hold the pickaxe or 
the shovel. 

6. When the coal 
has reached the top 
of the shaft, it is put 
into small cars that 
run on a sloping 
railroad or tramway, 
such as you can see 
in the large chart, 
until it reaches a 
railroad, along which 
it is drawn to some 
place where it is sold 
for use, or to some 
place where it can 
be put into canal- 
boats, or ships, and 
go wherever water 

Interior of a Coal-Mine. 

goes. 

7. Many coal-mines are reached from the side 
of a mountain or hill by way of a kind of tun- 
nel instead of a shaft. Coal is brought from the 
inside of the mine to the opening, mostly in 
small cars which are moved by horses or mules 
and sometimes by the miners themselves. 

8. One kind of coal, called first in Lan- 




214 Coal-fields — Their Extent — Gas. 

cashire, in England, cannel coal (that is, 
candle or can'le coal), will burn like pine wood. 
If you take a splinter of it and hold it in the 
flame of a candle, it will take fire and continue 
to burn, giving out a light like a candle. This 
kind of coal can also be turned in the turning- 
lathe as wood is turned, and sometimes snuff- 
boxes are made from it. 

9. The gas we burn in our houses is made 
from coal, which, therefore, not only warms us 
in winter, but cooks our supper and gives us 
light to eat it by. 

10. Many millions of tons of coal are pro- 
duced every year. Our steamboats, ocean 
steamers, locomotives, and steam-engines use 
up many tons of this black fuel. 

11. Coal has been in use in England for nearly six hun- 
dred years. In the reign of Edward I. (1272-1307) the 
use of coal was forbidden because its smoke was said to be 
injurious to health. 

12. In this country what are called coal-fields 
have an extent of about 300,000 square miles. 
You must not imagine, however, that all this 
country looks black with coal. On the contrary, 
very little of it crops out on the surface, and you 
may have a very fine farm with all its trees and 
crops spread out over a valuable coal-mine, so 
that they may both be worked without inter- 
fering with one another. 



Coal — From What Formed. 2 1 5 

13. You learned in the previous chapter how 
necessary leaves are to the life and growth of a 
tree, and how valuable some kinds are, such as 
those of the tea and the tobacco plant ; but do 
you see any use in the leaves of the forest after 
they have withered and fallen in the autumn ? 

14. If you should dig down in the ground 
you would see that the soil at the top is black 
and rich, while deeper down it is light-colored 
and poor. The blackness and richness of the 
surface soil is due chiefly to the withered leaves 
which fell from year to year and went to decay ; 
thus you may trace back the abundance of 
your bread, through large crops of wheat and 
rich soil, to dead leaves or dead grass. 

15. That is not all: geologists* tell us, 
among many other wonderful and interesting 
things, that they have traced the coal which 
miners dig out of the earth away back to 
trees, plants, leaves, etc., which had become 
buried in great masses under the surface of the 
earth. 

16. Just how all these immense beds of coal 
were made, learned men have not agreed. They 
appear to have been made in some mysterious 
manner, long, long ago, from trees, plants, and 
seeds (especially ferns and mosses), because the 

* Men who have studied the formation of the earth— its rocks, mountains, 
soils, etc. 



216 Coal— How Formed—Charcoal. 




Sand Stone. 
Coal Bed. 

Clay. 
Iron Ore. 
Lime Stone. 

Slaty Bock. 
Iron Ore. 
Sand Stone. 
Coal Bed* 

Clay. 



Interior or Sectional View in the Coal Regions. 

remains and impressions of such have been 
found in them. It is also probable that the 
water on the earth, the heat inside of the 
earth, volcanic action, and several successive 
elevations and depressions of the surface had a 
good deal to do with the formation of coal. 

1 7. Charcoal is made by covering, almost en- 
tirely, a large pile of wood with sod and earth 
and setting it on fire. 



Coke — Iron — Iron Furnaces. 217 

18. Coke bears the same relation to coal that 
charcoal does to wood. The coal is heated in 
air-tight iron vessels, from which tubes run into 
water, so that all the gas may bubble through 
into another vessel and be drawn thence to 
light our houses. Thus we contrive to make 
coke and gas at the same time. 

1 9. The coke we burn in our grates to warm us ; 
and the gas, in our gas-burners to give us light. 

20. The annual coal production of the world is about 
300,000,000 tons ; one-half of which is obtained in Great 
Britain, one-sixth in the United States, one-sixth in Ger- 
many, and nearly all the rest in France, Belgium, and 
Austria. The deepest mines in the world are in England. 
They are more than 2,000 feet beneath the. surface of 
the earth. One is over 2,400 feet in depth. 

21. There are many things represented in the 
chart that are made of iron. Mention some of 
them. 

22. Iron is the most useful metal in the world ; 
it is far more useful to us than gold and sil- 
ver. Iron is very seldom found pure. It is 
almost always mixed with other substances, and 
this mixture is called iron ore. To get the iron 
from this, men build large furnaces of fire-proof 
brick, and after they have built a very hot fire 
in the bottom of one of these they put in a 
quantity of iron ore, then about as much lime- 
stone broken up into a convenient size, and then 
on top of the limestone about as much coal. 



218 Iron — How Manufactured. 

23. Thus they keep putting in layers of ore, 
limestone, and coal until the whole furnace, 
which is sometimes sixty feet high, is filled up 
to the top. As the mass sinks down they put 
on more to keep the furnace always full. The 
fire burns all through this mass, so that the ore 
is melted ; a part of which mixes with the heat- 
ed limestone, making what is called slag, and 
leaving the iron free to run down below. This 
the iron is sure to do, because it is heavier than 
all the other things. 

24. The fire in the furnace is kept up day and 
night, and on Sundays as well, because if they 
were to allow the fire to go out, it would take 
about a week to get it in order again. But the 
same men do not work at it all the time ; 
there are two sets or gangs of them, and their 
time is arranged so that each gang shall have 
the same amount of night-work. Twice a day 
they let the melted iron run out of the furnace 
and conduct it along narrow earthen gutters 
into hollows or molds of sand or iron, about three 
feet long and three inches wide as well as deep. 

25. These, from their lying side by side like a 
litter of pigs, are called pig-iron. This is again 
melted to make anything of cast-iron, and is 
poured into very smooth earthen molds of the 
desired shape. All our iron stoves are made of 
such castings. 



Wr ought-Iron — Steel. 2 1 9 

26. To make wrought-iron, the pig-iron is 
melted, and a convenient quantity is lifted out 
and beaten with hammers continually while 
hot, and in every direction, until it is sufficiently 
thus "wrought," which makes it tough and 
flexible. 

27. This is then made into bars or chains 
or any other shape that is preferred. It is also 
rolled while hot between rollers with grooves 
in them so as to make long bars of different 
shapes and thicknesses for different purposes. 
Wire also is made from wrought-iron. 

28. To make steel, this iron is heated again 
with charcoal ; part of the charcoal goes into 
the iron and makes it capable of being tem- 
pered in the fire, so as to be made very hard 
and very elastic, taking thus a finer edge when 
made into tools and ground. It is from this 
that we get all our knives, hatchets, axes, chis- 
els, gouges, adzes, and other tools. Razors are 
made from the best and finest steel, and when 
carefully ground and sharpened have a very fine 
cutting edge. 

29. More iron is obtained in England than in any other 
country in the world ; and in Pennsylvania, than in any 
other State in the Union. 

30. In Missouri is Iron Mountain, a mass of iron 200 
feet high, covering an area of 500 acres. 

31. The place most noted for the manufacture of 
knives is Sheffield, a town in England. 



220 Salt-mines — Salt, how Obtained. 




32. The *salt-mines in the northern 
part of Austria are about 1,000 feet in 
depth and two miles in length. They con- 
tain many great rooms, galleries, and pas- 
sages, all cut out by the miners. There are 
valuable salt-mines also in Russia, Eng- 
land, Germany, Italy, and Spain. 

$$. Salt is obtained not only from 
mines, but also from the water of the 
ocean, salt springs and wells, which you 
have already learned in the chapter on' 
springs and wells. 



■<M 



#^ 



A Famous Salt-mine in Austria. 



Silver-mining. 



221 




Silver-mines in Colorado. 

34. Silver-mining is carried on very exten- 
sively in the States of Nevada and Colorado, 
where some men have become immensely rich 
almost in a single day, owing to the discovery 
of silver on thek land. 

35. Many of the mines are far up high 
mountains and reach to great distances within 
them. 

36. Silver is found also in Utah, Montana, 
and other Territories of the United States. It 
was formerly found in large quantities in Mexi- 
co, Bolivia, and Peru. 

37. It is said that many years ago an Indian hunter in 
South America, in pulling up a shrub, observed something 
white and shining clinging to the roots, and that this led to 
the discovery of a mountain almost filled with silver, 




222 Gold-mining — Copper. 

38. Gold, the most precious of all the metals 
is found not only in deep mines like those of 
iron, coal, or silver — 

39. It has been found in the sands of streams, 
into which it has been carried 
from the crumbling rocks by 
rains, and from which it is ob- 
tained by washing. Consider- 
able gold is obtained by direct- 
ing a powerful stream of water 

Gold-washing. a g a inst the rocks by means of a 
hose, which is supplied from large collections of 
water on higher ground. This is called hydrau- 
lic mining. 

40. Pure gold is too soft for general use, there- 
fore it is mixed with silver or copper, which are 
harder ; it is then said to be alloyed, or reduced 
in purity. 

41. For gilding, a portion of gold is ham- 
mered out into leaves so thin that several hun- 
dred of them together would be no thicker than 
one of the leaves of your book. 

42. California, Nevada, and Australia 
have long been celebrated for gold. 

43. Copper ore is found in several countries 
and States, especially in the Republic of 
Chili and in the State of Michigan, along 
the shores of Lake Superior, 



Tin — Zinc — Lead — Brass. 223 

44. Tin ore is obtained principally from the 
mines of England, Australia, the Malay 
Peninsula, and two islands, Banca and Bil- 
liton, which lie southeast of that peninsula. 

45. In Cornwall, the most southwestern county in 
England, are hundreds of mines of tin and copper, some 
of which extend far out from the shore and under the bed 
of the ocean ; in these the moaning of the restless waves 
overhead is always heard, and their roaring while a storm 
lasts is fearful to listen to. 

46. Tin is white and bright, but too soft for ordinary 
use ; therefore, sheets of iron are dipped into melted tin, 
enough of which adheres to the iron to form a thin white 
coating. Sheet-iron thus coated is the substance of which 
tin cups, pans, etc., are made, and with which the roofs of 
some houses are covered. You see, therefore, that a tin 
cup is really made of iron. 

47. Bronze and bell-metal are made of copper and tin 
mixed together. Brass is made of copper and zinc 
mixed together. There are, consequently, no mines or 
ores of brass or bronze. 

48. Zinc is a metal of a bluish gray tint. It is exten- 
sively mined in several countries in Europe, and in the 
States of Wisconsin, Missouri, New Jersey, and 
Pennsylvania. 

49. Lead is mined very extensively in Wisconsin, 
Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. It is used in roofing 
houses, lining tanks, and in making bullets, shot, and wa- 
ter-pipes. 

50. Lead pencils are made of a mineral called plumba- 
go, which is not lead, but a kind of coal. Extensive 
mines of this substance are found in England and Si- 
beria. 




224 Dangers in the Mines, 



IX. DANGERS IN THE MINES. 

jJHERE is danger in the mines, old man/' I 
said to an aged miner, who, with his arms 
bent, leaned against the side of an im- 
mense vault, absorbed in meditation ; " it must be a 
fearful life." 

2. The old man looked at me with a steadfast but 
somewhat vacant stare, and then in half-broken sen- 
tences he uttered, " Danger — where is there not? — 
on the earth or beneath it — in the mountain or in 
the valley — on the ocean or in the quiet of nature's 
most hidden spot — where is there not danger? — 
where has not death left some token of his presence ? 

3. "True," I replied, "but the vicissitudes of life 
are various ; the sailor seeks his living on the waters, 
and he knows each moment that they may engulf 
him ; the hunter braves death in the wild woods, and 
the soldier on the battle-field, and the miner knows 
not but the spot where he now stands, to-morrow 
may be his tomb." 

4. " It is so, indeed ; " replied the old man ; " we 
find death in the means we seek to perpetuate life ; 
'tis a strange riddle ; who shall solve it ? " 

5. " Have you long followed this occupation?" I 
asked, somewhat struck by the old man's manner. 

6. " From a boy ; I drew my first breath in the 
mines, — I shall yield it up in their gloom." 

7. " You have seen some of those vicissitudes to 
which you have just now alluded ? " 



Dangers in the Mines. 225 

8. "Yes!" he replied with a faltering voice, "I 
have; there was a time that three tall boys looked 
up to me and called me father. They were sturdy 
fellows ! Now, it seems but yesterday that they 
stood before me so proud in their strength, and I 
was filled with a father's vanity. 

9. " Where are they now ? 

10. " I saw the youngest — he was the dearest of 
the flock, his mother's spirit seemed to have settled 
on him — crushed at my feet, a bleeding mass. One 
moment, and his light laugh was in my ears; the 
next, and the large mass came. There was no cry — 
no look of terror ; but the transition to eternity was 
as the lightning's flash, and my poor boy lay crushed 
beneath the fearful load. It was an awful moment. 

11. " But my cup of affliction was not yet full. 
I had still two sons. They, too, were taken from me. 
Side by side they died, the fire-damp caught their 
breath, and left them lifeless. They brought them 
home to the old man, and told him that he was 
childless and alone. It is a strange decree that the 
plant should thus survive the stripling things it 
shaded, and for whom it would have died a thousand 
times. Is it surprising that I should wish to die in 
the mines? " 

12. " You have indeed," I replied, " been ac- 
quainted with grief. Whence did you derive conso- 
lation ? " 

13. The old man looked up, " From heaven." 

Hood. 



226 



Descent into a Salt Mine. 





DESCENT INTO A SALT MINE. 



fffgS^AR away, in Eastern Europe, the traveler 
Sffljf? comes upon a long, low range of hills, 
stretching from east to west, which enclose, 
with their soft outlines and well-wooded slopes, a 
lovely valley, dotted here and there with smaller 
hills and little knolls. 

2. It is a busy scene to which he comes, and men 
are moving briskly about through the narrow streets. 
They wear a strange costume of sombre black, and 
have thick leather aprons tied on behind instead of 
in front ; they look cheerful and happy, and many a 
merry song and sweet car'ol is heard far and near. 

3. The traveler engages one of these men to show 
him the way into the mysterious world below, of 
which he has heard much ; and soon he finds himself 
arrayed in a white blouse 1 and black velvet cap, such 
as are kept ready for visitors, at the mouth of the shaft. 



i 1 



Blouse, blouze. 



Descent into a Salt Mine. 227 

4. The two descend and soon the traveler finds 
himself in a vast underground cor'ridor, cut out of 
salt. As soon as his eyes become accustomed to the 
dim light of the candle stuck in his hat, he sees huge 
blocks of the precious material lying about, some 
colorless, some shining in beautiful though subdued 
blue ; the vaulted ceiling rests on gigantic pillars, in 
which each ti'ny grain shines brightly and sparkles as 
the light falls upon it. A little further on the 
miners are hard at work; they attack the mountain- 
side, and cut out immense blocks. 

5. As the traveler wanders on through the long 
dark passages, with statues in niches and at the 
corners, he passes large vaulted rooms, dark caves, 
and huge recess'es, that seem to have no end, and 
at times he comes upon stairs, cut in the rock, 
which he has to descend cautiously, so smooth and 
slippery is the material of which they are formed. 

6. Suddenly he sees bright lights before him, and, 
dazzled and surprised, he enters a vast cathedral, 
the walls of which shine and shimmer all around in 
fanciful flitting lights, as the light of torches and 
candles falls upon the bright masses of salt ; there is 
the altar with its colos'sal cross, and at the side the 
organ and choir ; x here also images abound on all 
sides cut out in the yielding material. 

7. Further on, the traveler sees a smaller chapel 
devoted to the memory of the pious wife of one of 
Poland's early kings, who had, in 1252, the honor of 
bestowing the knowledge of these wondrous treasures 
on her impoverished subjects. 

1 Choir, kwire. 




228 Flint and Steel. 



XL FLINT AND STEEL. 

HE Flint and Steel — the story goes — 
Old friends by natural relation, 
Fell out, one day, and like two foes, 
Indulged in bitter altercation. 

" I'm weary," said the angry Flint, 
" Of being beat : 'tis past concealing ; 
Your conduct (witness many a dint 
Upon my sides !) is most unfeeling. 

" And what reward have I to show ? 

What sort of payment do you render 
To one who hears each hateful blow 

That you may blaze in transient splendor? n 

" You seem to think yourself abused," 
The Steel replied with proper spirit ; 

" But, say, unless with me you're used, 
What praise of service do you merit ? 

" Your worth, as any one may see 
(For all your feeling of defiance), 
Is simply nought, unless with me 
You keep your natural alliance." 

" True ! " said the Flint ; "but there's no call, 
Whate'er my worth, for you to flout it ; 
My value, sir ! may be but small ; 

But think what yours would be without it ! " 

J. G. Saxe. 



The Coal Mine. lie} 



XII. THE COAL MINE. 




ANY plants have been found in a pet 'rified 
state in the rocks of the coal formation. 
1 ' There they are preserved for us in the most 

wonderful museum 1 in the world. It is astonishing 
sometimes to find that the texture — the fibres and 
the pulp — have all preserved their forms unaltered, 
though the substance itself has entirely disappeared. 

2. A Town Hall in Germany contains a staircase 
of sandstone, each fragment of which clearly indicates 
that it was originally of wood. 

3. One of the most marvelous natural curiosities 
which attract geologists to Tasmania, is the "forest 
of petrified trees" a great number of which are 
transformed into the most beautiful opal. 2 

4. These trees are standing upright, and it would 
seem that they were in full growth when the burn- 
ing lava overwhelmed them. Some fragments have 
been carefully examined, and looked so full of life, 
so absolutely like wood, that only a very careful 
examination brought the conviction that they were 
really stone. 

5. Coal was formed, as we know, by the great 
wealth of primitive vegetation that covered the whole 
earth. Every one has observed that in damp cellars, 
in which dry wood is kept during winter, there is a 
soft-wood layer left behind, which looks like vegeta- 
ble mould, and it is also well known how our marsh- 

1 Museum, mu-ze'um y not mu\ ~ Opal, o'pl. 



230 Eureka — / have Found it. 

plants are gradually changed into peat. In a similar 
but far more powerful manner was our early vegeta- 
tion converted into coal. 

6. At that early day, it appears that the vegetable 
world was preparing for man the fuel necessary for 
his comfort and industry. 



XIII. EUREKA— I HAVE FOUND IT. 

(the lesson of the bath.) 
NE of the most valuable discoveries made by 




Archimedes, 1 the famous scholar of Syra- 
cuse, in Sicily, relates to the weight of 
bodies immersed in water. 

2. Hiero, king of Syracuse, had given a lump of 
gold to be made into a crown, and when it came 
back he suspected that the workmen had kept back 
some of the gold, and had made up the weight by 
substituting silver ; but he had no means of proving 
this, because they had made it weigh as much as the 
gold which had been sent. 

3. Archimedes, puzzling over this problem, went 
to his bath. As he stepped in he saw the water, 
which his body displaced, rise to a higher level in 
the bath, and to the astonishment of his servants he 
sprang out of the water, and ran home through the 
streets of Syracuse almost naked, crying, u Eureka ! 2 
Eureka ! " (" I have found it ! I have found it ! ") 

1 Archimedes, Ar-ki-me'dez, the most celebrated mathematician 
and inventor previous to 287 B. C. 

2 Eureka, u-re'ka, Greek for " I have found it." 



Archimedes and his Discovery. 231 

4. What had he found ? He had discovered that 
any solid body put into a vessel of water displaces a 
quantity of water equal to its own bulk, and there- 
fore that equal weights of two substances, one light 
and bulky, and the other heavy and small, will dis- 
place different quantities of water. 

5. This discovery enabled him to solve his prob- 
lem. He procured one lump of gold and another of 
silver, each weighing exactly the same as the crown. 
Of course the lumps were not the same size, because 
silver is lighter than gold, and so it takes more of it. 
to make up the same weight. He first put the gold 
into a basin of water, and marked on the side of the 
vessel the height to which the w T ater rose. 

6. Next, taking out the gold, he put in the silver, 
which, though it weighed the same, yet, being larger, 
made the water rise higher ; and this height he also 
marked. Lastly, he took out the silver and put in 
the crown. 

7. Now, if the crown had been pure gold, the 
water would have risen only up to the mark of the 
gold ; but it rose higher, and stood between the gold 
and silver marks, showing that silver had been 
mixed with the gold, making the crown more bulky ; 
and by calculating how much water was displaced, 
Archime'des could estimate how much silver had been 
added. 

8. This was the first attempt to measure the specific 
gravity of different substances ; that is, the weight of 
any particular substance compared to an equal bulk of 
some other substance taken as a standard. In weigh- 
ing solids or liquids, water is the usual standard. 



232 Volcanoes — Earthquakes — Lava. 




A Volcano and other Mountains. 



XIV. MOUNTAINS, VOLCANOES. 

1. Here is a volcano, which is a burning 
mountain. Sometimes volcanoes throw out red- 
hot stones, sometimes melted stones called lava, 
sometimes smoke, and sometimes ashes. Most 
of them are along the Pacific coasts of Asia 
and South America. There are more than a 
thousand volcanoes in the world. They are 
useful in preventing earthquakes ; in supplying 
us with sulphur, with some fine kinds of lava, 
from which bracelets and breast-pins are made, 
and with pumice-stone, which is the froth that 
floats sometimes on streams of lava. 



Str emboli — Vesuvius. 2 33 

2. In 1783 a volcano in Iceland sent out two streams of 
lava, one 40 miles long and 7 miles wide, and the other 50 
miles long and 15 miles wide. These streams were from 
100 to 600 feet deep. In this eruption 11,000 cows, 27,000 
horses, and 186,000 sheep perished. 

3. In the island of Java is a volcano (Papanday- 
ang) which, in 1772, threw out ashes and cinders so as to 
cover the earth fifty feet deep for a distance of seven miles 
all around the mountain, thus destroying forty villages and 
twenty thousand people. 

4. Sometimes volcanoes rise from the sea. This hap- 
pened in 1866, near the Navigators' Islands, in the 
Pacific. Stones, mud, and dust were thrown up 2,000 
feet. Some of the, stones going down met others coming up 
with a terrible crash. For half a mile around the water 
was in terrible commotion. Heaps of dead fish were 
washed ashore, and among them some strange monsters, 
from six to ten feet long, such as the natives had never 
seen before; while the atmosphere for miles around was 
heated and filled with smoke, ashes, and sulphurous vapors. 

5. North of Sicily are the Lipari (lip'a-re) Islands. 
On one of these is a volcano named Stromboli (strom'- 
bo-le), which has given out lava for 2,000 years, and, from 
its constant light, has been called the light-house of the 
Mediterranean. 

6. The best-known volcano in the world is 
Vesuvius, which is in Italy, near the city of 
Naples. This was not known to be a volcano 
until the year 79, or about eighteen centuries 
ago, when it suddenly burst forth and sent 
out such an immense quantity of ashes and 
cinders as to overwhelm two cities situated near 
it These cities were named Herculaneum and 



234 Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneunt. 

Pompeii {porn-pay V). Almost all their inha- 
bitants managed to escape. The ashes that fell 
upon Herculaneum were mixed with steam, so 
that the moist ashes gradually hardened into 
stone. 

7. Pompeii was covered over with dry ashes 
so completely that nothing could be seen 
of it. Thus it remained buried until 1748, 
when it was accidentally discovered. Excava- 
tions were then commenced and have conti- 
nued to the present day. About one-third 
of the city has been uncovered, and you can 
now walk along the streets and look into the 
houses, and see exactly how people lived in 
those days. 

8. Vesuvius frequently pours out lava, and 
travelers often stand close by a stream of lava 
flowing from it, and see smoke issuing from its 
crater. 

9. A story is told of a Roman soldier who was guard- 
ing one of the gates of that ancient city at the time it 
was destroyed. Although the people rushed wildly past 
him, in their anxiety to escape suffocation and death, 
he stood at his post, and, unfortunately, having no 
orders to leave it, he remained and perished. When 
the great heaps of ashes were carried away from that 
part of the city nearly seventeen centuries afterwards 
his skeleton was found on the spot, with his weapons 
beside it. 

10. The ruins include those of dwellings, temples, thea- 
tres, statues, fountains, etc. 



The Great Eruption of Vesuvius. 235 
XV. THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS. 




ELIGHTFULLY situated at the foot of 
Vesuvius, on the beautiful Bay of Naples, 
were the two cities of Pompeii and Hercula- 
neum, which, at the height of Rome's greatness, 
were famous resorts of Romans of wealth and rank. 
Beautiful vineyards and gardens covered the moun- 
tain slopes, and heathen temples, baths, statues, 
fountains, and mosaic pavements adorned the towns. 
This, the first recorded eruption of the mountain, 
lasted eight days and nights. 

2. Pliny the younger, a Roman author of that 
time, described the sudden appearance of a cloud 
which rose in the afternoon of August 24, A. D. 79, 
over Vesuvius, shooting upward to a great height 
and spreading at the top like a pine tree ; then the 
showers of ashes and cinders which filled the atmos- 
phere, producing intense darkness that continued 
three days. His uncle, the elder Pliny, then admiral 
of the fleet near by, went to the assistance of the 
people on shore. Hot cinders fell on the decks of 
the ships, and flames were raging on the land. 

Here Cicero, the great Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher, sought 
relief from the midsummer heats of the Imperial City (Rome) in his magnificent 
villa. This was before the Christian era. Pompeii previous to its destruction 
was surrounded by a massive stone wall, about two miles in length, with 
towers and gates. The streets were narrow (12 to 30 feet) and paved with 
blocks of stone (lava). 

The earthquake which occurred 16 years before the eruption caused consider- 
able damage to some of the buildings, now visible in the cracks and propped 
walls of the uncovered poition. 

The dwellings, which were generally low, small, and built of brick, enclosed 
delightful courtyards, where tropical plants, cool fountains, rich vines, and 
various works of art, gratified the luxurious tastes of the inhabitants, who were 
accustomed to pass most of their time in the open air. 



2 36 The Last Days of Pompeii. 

3. Retreating to the shore in the intense darkness, 
protected with pillows on their heads, they found 
the sea too tempestuous for them to embark. The 
admiral lay down exhausted upon a sail on the 
shore, and his companions fled before the sulph'ur- 
ous flames. Here his body was found three days 
afterward. 

4. According to Bulwer, the immense amphithe'- 
ater of Pompeii was crowded with people to witness 
cruel sports — the fighting of gladiators and the 
destruction of a criminal by the lion and the tiger. 
These horrible performances were suddenly arrested. 

I. The Last Days of Pompeii. 

[HE eyes of the crowd beheld, with dismay, 
a vast vapor shooting from the summit ! 
of Vesuvius in the form of a gigantic 2 pine- 
tree ; the trunk, blackness — the branches fire ! — a fire 
that shifted and wavered in its hues with every 
moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and 
dying red, and that again blazed terrifically forth 
with intolerable glare ! 

2. There was a dead, heart-sunken silence ; through 
which there suddenly broke the roar of the lion, 
that was echoed back from within the building by 
the sharper and fiercer yells of its fellow-beast. 
Dread seers were they of the Burden of the Atmos- 
phere, and wild prophets of the wrath to come ! 

1 Summit, top. 2 Gigantic, ji-ghan 'tik. 

The amphitheater, situated in a corner of the city, was an ellipse, 430 by 335 
feet in extent, capable of seating 10,000 persons, or about half the population of 
the city. 




Flight of the People. 237 

3. Then there arose on high the universal shrieks 
of women ; the men stared at each other, but were 
dumb. At that moment they felt the earth shake 
under their feet ; the walls of the theater trembled ; 
and, beyond in the distance, they heard the crash 
of falling roofs ; an instant more, and the mountain 
cloud seemed to roll toward them, dark and rapid, 
like a torrent ; at the same time, it cast forth from 
its bosom a shower of ashes mixed with vast frag- 
ments of burning stone ! 

4. Over the crushing vines, over the desolate 
streets, over the amphitheater itself, far and wide, 
with many a mighty splash in the agitated sea, fell 
that awful shower ! 

5. No longer thought the crowd of vengeance or of 
sport ; safety for themselves was their sole thought. 
Each turned to fly — each dashing, pressing, crushing 
against the other. Tramping recklessly over the 
fallen, amid groans, and oaths, and prayers, and sud- 
den shrieks, the enormous crowd vomited itself forth 
through the numerous passages. 

6. Whither should they fly ! Some, anticipating 
a second earthquake, hastened to their homes to 
load themselves with their more costly goods, and 
escape while it was yet time ; others, dreading the 
showers of ashes that now fell fast, torrent upon tor- 
rent, over the streets, rushed under the roofs of the 
nearest houses, or temples, or sheds (shelter of any 
kind), for protection from the terrors of the open 
air. But darker and larger and mightier spread 
the cloud above them. It was a sudden and more 
ghastly night rushing upon the realm of noon ! 



238 Their Flight — Darkness. 

7. How the darkness gathers ! What sudden 
blazes of lightning! How they dart and quiver! 

8. What sound is that? — the hissing of fiery- 
water! What! does the cloud give rain as well as 
flame? 

9. Amid the other horrors, the mighty mountain 
now cast up columns of boiling water. Blent and 
kneaded 1 with the half-burning ashes, the streams 
fell like seething mud over the streets in frequent 
intervals. 

10. The streets were already thinned ; the crowd 
had hastened to disperse itself under shelter ; the 
ashes began to fill up the lower parts of the town ; 
but, here and there, you heard the weary foot-steps 
of fugitives, 2 or saw the pale and haggard faces by 
the blue glare of the lightning, or the more unsteady 
glare of torches, by which they endeavored to steer 
their steps. But ever and anon, the boiling water, 
the straggling ashes, or mysterious and gusty winds 
rising and dying in a breath, extinguished these wan- 
dering lights, and with them the last living hope of 
those who bore them. 

11. " Help there! Help ! " cried a frightened 
voice, " I have fallen down — my torch has gone out 
— ten thousand sesterces to him who helps me — oh, 
help me, give me thy hand." See ! — they have 
placed a light within yon arch at the gate ; by that 
let us guide our steps. 

1 Kneaded, need'ed. 2 Fugitives, fufi-tlvz. 3 Value 4 cents. 

Volcanic lightnings. These phenomena were especially characteristic of 
the long-subsequent eruption of 1799, and their evidence is visible in the tokens 
of that more awful one here described. 



The Brave Sentry. 239 

12. The air became still for a few minutes; the 
lamp from the gate streamed out far and clear ; the 
fugitives hurried on — they gained the gate — they 
passed by the Roman sentry ; the lightning flashed 
over his liv'id face and his polished helmet, but his 
stern features were composed even in his awe. He 
remained erect and motionless at his post. That 
hour itself had not animated the machine of the 
ruthless majesty of Rome into the reasoning and 
self-acting man. There he stood, amid the crashing 
elements ; he had not received the permission to 
desert his station and escape. 

II. Flames, Falling Ashes, and Stones. 

HE cloud; which had scattered so deep a 
murk mess over the day, had now settled 
into a solid and impenetrable mass. It 
resembled less even the thickest gloom of a night 
in the open air than the close and blind darkness 
of some narrow room. But in proportion as the 
blackness gathered, did the lightnings around 
Vesuvius increase in their viv'id and scorching 
glare. 



A large building has been uncovered, which is supposed to have been the 
barracks of troops, or of gladiators. Numerous implements of war have been 
collected there, and in and around the building were found 64 skeletons, prob- 
ably of the guard who remained at their posts unmoved by the catastrophe — a 
remarkable and affecting proof, it has been said, of the discipline of the Roman 
soldier. 

The buried city of Pompeii was discovered by accident, in digging a well. 

Numerous statues, vases, bronzes, and mosaics of unsurpassed magnificence, 
and other works of art taken from the ruins since the discovery, are now on 
exhibition in the muse'um at Naples. 




240 Flames, Falling Ashes, and Stones. 

2. Nor was their horrible beauty confined to the 
usual hues of fire ; no rainbow ever ri'valed their 
varying dyes. Now brightly blue as the most azure * 
depth of a southern sky — now of a liv'id and snake- 
like green, darting restlessly to and fro as the folds 
of an enormous serpent — now of a lu'rid and intol- 
erable crimson, gushing forth through the columns 
of smoke, far and wide, and lighting up the whole 
city from arch to arch — then suddenly dying into a 
sickly paleness ! 

3. In the pauses of the showers, you heard the 
rumbling of the earth beneath and the groaning 
waves of the tortured sea ; or, lower still, and audible 
but to the watch of intensest fear, the grinding and 
hissing murmur of the escaping gases through the 
chasms 2 of the distant mountain. 

4. Sometimes the cloud appeared to break from 
its solid mass, and, by the lightning, to assume quaint 
and vast mimicries of human or of monster shapes, 
striding across the gloom hurtling one upon the 
other, and vanishing swiftly into the tur'bulent 
abyss' of shade ; so that, to the eyes and fancies of 
the affrighted wanderers, the unsubstantial vapors 
were as the bodily forms of gigantic foes — the agents 
of terror and death. 

5. The ashes in many places were already knee- 
deep ; and the boiling showers which came from the 
steaming breath of the volcano forced their way into 
the houses, bearing with them a strong and suffo- 
cating vapor. 

1 Azure, az'itre, blue. 2 Chasms, kazms. 



The Lights Extinguished. 241 

6. In some places, immense fragments of rock, 
hurled upon the house roofs, bore down along the 
streets masses of confused ruin which, yet more and 
more with every hour, obstructed the way ; and as 
the day advanced, the motion of the earth was more 
sensibly felt — the footing seemed to slide and creep 
— nor could chariot 1 or litter 2 be kept steady, even 
on the most level ground. 

7. Sometimes the huger 3 stones striking against 
each other as they fell, broke into countless frag- 
ments, emitting 4 sparks of fire, which caught what- 
ever was combustible 5 within their reach ; and along 
the plains beyond the city the darkness was terri- 
bly relieved ; for several houses, and even vineyards, 
had caught fire. 

8. To add to this partial relief of the darkness, the 
citizens had, here and there in the more public 
places, such as the porticos 6 of temples and the 
entrances to the forum, 7 endeavored to place rows 
of torches ; but these rarely continued long ; the 
showers and the winds extinguished them, and the 
sudden darkness into which their fitful s light was 
converted had something in it doubly terrible and 
doubly impressive on the impotence 9 of human 
hopes, the lesson of despair. 

1 Chariot, char'e-ot, war vehicle — a carriage. 

2 Lifter, a bed on which persons are carried. 

3 Huger, kuje-er, larger. 7 Fo'rum, meeting place. 

4 E-mit'ting, sending oat. 8 Fit'ful, irregular. 

5 Com-bus'ti-ble, easily kindled. 9 Im'po-tence, weakness. 
* Porticos, pot'te-koze, spaces enclosed by columns. 



242 Terrors on Sea and Land. 



III. Darkness— The Sea Retreats. 




REQUENTLY, by the momentary light of 
these torches, parties of fugitives encoun- 
tered each other, some hurrying toward 
the sea, others flying from the sea back to the land, 
for the ocean had retreated rapidly from the shore. 
An utter darkness lay over it, and upon its groaning 
and tossing waves, the storm of cinders and rocks 
fell and without the protection which the streets and 
roofs afforded on the land. 

2. Wild, haggard, ghastly with supernatural fears, 
these groups encountered each other, but without 
the leisure 1 to speak, consult, or advise; for the 
showers fell frequently, though not continuously, 
extinguishing the lights, which showed to each band 
the death-like faces of the other, and hurrying all to 
seek ref 'uge beneath the nearest shelter. 

3. All the elements of civilization seemed to be 
broken up. 

4. Ever and anon, by the flickering lights, you saw 
the thief hastening by the most solemn authorities 
of the law, laden with, and fearfully chuckling 2 over, 
the produce 3 of his sudden gains. 

5. If in the darkness, wife was separated from 
husband, or parent from child, vain was the hope of 
reunion. Each hurried blindly and confusedly on. 

1 Leisure, le'zhur, freedom from occupation. 

2 Chuck'ling, laughing in a suppressed manner. 

3 Produce, prod'iise, not pro* 'doos, pro'ceeds. 



Explosions — Poisonous Vapors. 243 

6. The groans of the dying were broken by wild 
shrieks of women's terror — now near, now distant — 
which, when heard in the utter darkness, were ren- 
dered doubly appalling 2 by the crushing sense of 

.helplessness and the uncertainty of the perils around. 

7. Clear and distinct through all were the mighty 
and various noises from the Fatal Mountain ; its 
rushing winds ; its whirling torrents ; and, from time 
to time, the burst and roar of some more fiery and 
fierce explosion. 

8. Ever as the winds swept howling along the 
street, they bore sharp streams of burning dust, and 
such sickening and poisonous vapors as took away, 
for the instant, breath and consciousness, followed 
by a tingling sensation of agony, trembling through 
every nerve and fi'ber of the frame. 

9. The sea had retired far from the shore ; and the 
people who had fled to it had been so terrified by 
the agitation and preternatural shrinking of the ele- 
ment, the gasping forms of the uncouth 2 sea-things 
which the waves had left upon the sand, and by the 
sound of the huge stones cast from the mountain into 
the deep, that they had retired again to the land, as 
presenting the less frightful aspect of the two. 

10. A wild yell burst through the air ! Thinking 
only of escape, whither it knew not, the terrible 
tiger of the desert leaped among the throng and 
hurried through its parted streams. And so came 
the earthquake — and so darkness once more fell over 
the earth ! 

1 Appalling, ap-paul'ing. 2 Uncouth, un-kooth'. 



244 The End — Two Cities Buried. 

ii. And meekly, softly, beautifully, dawned at last 
the light over the trembling deep ! — the winds were 
sinking into rest — the foam died from the glowing 
azure of that now beautiful sea. 

12. Around the east, thin mists caught gradually- 
the rosy hues that heralded the morning. Light 
was about to resume her reign. 

13. Yet, still, dark and massive in the distance, 
lay the broken fragments of the destroying cloud, 
from which red streaks, burning diplier and dimlier, 
betrayed the yet rolling fires of the mountain of 
the " Scorched Fields." 

14. The white walls and gleaming columns that 
had adorned the lovely coasts were no more. Sullen 
and dull were the shores so lately crested by the 
cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. 

BULWER. 

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was a celebrated English writer, 
born in 1805. He was also a Member of Parliament and Rector 
of the University of Glasgow. 



What is a volcano ? Where are most volcanoes ? Of what advantages are 
they? W T hat celebrated volcano in Italy? Near what city is Vesuvius? In 
what year was its first recorded eruption ? What two cities were destroyed 
and covered by that eruption ? 

With what were the sides and base of that volcano covered for many years 
previous to the eruption ? Describe the streets. 

With what were these cities covered ? How were they discovered ? 

What celebrated volcano in South America ? Cotopaxi. Iceland ? Hecla. 
Sicily ? Etna. 

What substance used in the manufacture of gunpowder is obtained in the 
craters of some volcanoes ? 

What are made of hardened lava ? 

What is pum'ice stone ? 

Each pupil may write a letter or composition about volcanoes, 
and give in his or her own language a short description of the 
destruction of the city of Pompeii, 




Mountains; Their Uses. 245 



XVI. MOUNTAINS; THEIR USES. 

|ERE it not for the great swells of land, the 
ridges and crests of rock, the wrinkles, 
curves, and writhings of the strata, how 
could springs of water be formed ? What drainage 
could a country have? How could the rains be 
hoarded in fountains and lakes? Where would be 
the store-houses of the snow and hail? 

2. " Every fountain and river, from the inch-deep 
streamlet that crosses the village lane in trembling 
clearness, to the massy and silent march of the ever- 
lasting multitude of waters in the Amazon or the 
Ganges, ow T e their play and purity and power to the 
ordained elevations of the earth/' 

3. The richest beauty that invests the mountains 
suggests this branch of their utility. The mists that 
scale round them, above which their cones some- 
times float, aerial 1 islands in a stagnant sea; the 
veils 2 of rain that trail along them ; the crystal snow T 
that makes the light twinkle and dance ; the sombre 
thunder-heads that invest them with Sinai Mike awe, 
are all connected with their mission as the hydraulic 4 
distributors of the world,— the mighty troughs that 
apportion to the land the moisture which the noiseless 

1 Aerial, d-e're-al, belonging to the air. 

2 Veil, vale. 

3 Sinai, si'na-i, a mountain mentioned in Scripture. It is situ- 
ated in Asia, near the head of the Red Sea. 

4 Hydraulic, hi-drau'lik^ relating to water-pipes. 



246 How Mountains Affect Vegetation. 

solar suction is ever lifting from the sea. Their 
peaks are the cradles, their furrows the first play- 
ground of the great rivers of the earth. 

4. It is an equally obvious truth that mountain 
chains diversify climates. By their condensing effect 
upon the wet sea-winds, they make some districts 
more moist than others, and so variegate fertilities 
and the products of vegetation. One side of a 
mountain ridge receives much more rain than the 
other. For days together the valley of the Po 1 is 
never clouded, because the Alps, shrouded in dense 
fogs, are drawing off the waters from the wet lands 
before they reach the Italian plains. And the Hima- 
layas 2 force the summer monsoons 3 to bring out 
their bounty so thoroughly upon their southern sides, 
that the steppes 4 of inland Asia suffer to compen- 
sate 5 for the beauteous rivers and rich vegetation 
of the Indian peninsula. 6 The Pacific shore under 
the Andes 7 is very dry and comparatively barren, 
because the trade-winds that blow across and enrich 
the countries of the Amazon from the Atlantic, are 
robbed of most of their bounty in scaling those cold 
summits from the east, and have little to disburse 

1 Po, the largest river in Italy. 

2 Himalaya, him-a-lay'a, mountains in Asia, the highest in the 
world. 

3 Mon-soons', winds of Southern Asia which blow from S. W. 
in summer, and from N. E. in winter. 

4 Steppes, steps, vast plains of Russia and Siberia. 

5 Com-pen'sate, to repay, reward, or recompense. 

6 Peninsula, pen-in' su-lah, a portion of land almost surrounded 
by water. Hindoostan' is called the India Peninsula. 

7 Andes, an'deez, a chain of mountains in South America. 



A Destrtictive Earthquake. 247 

upon the western slopes. We are told that if a 
mountain system could be upheaved in Sahara, the 
hot breezes that now sweep over it would be chilled 
and compelled to disgorge their booty, — so that 
the wilderness, sprinkled with rain and veined with 
rivers, would in time " blossom as the rose." As to 
our supply of water and our irrigation, we must, with 
David, " lift up our eyes to the hills, from whence 
cometh our help." KlNG 

Thomas Starr King, an American clergyman and lecturer, was 
born in New York in 1824. 



THE EARTHQUAKE IN SCIO. 




N the afternoon a terrific shock was felt, 
bringing three-fourths of the houses in the 
town to the ground like so many packs of 
cards, and burying thousands of persons under the 
falling ruins. Then commenced a fearful scene of 
horror. The ground rocked and danced, kneading 
the ruin already formed into a mass of stone. 

2. The survivors ran hither and thither, not know- 
ing where to flee to escape the horrible fate that 
menaced them, and w T ere tossed and flung about by 
the heaving earth, like feathers in a breeze. 

3. On every side the rumblings of the earth, the 
noise of falling buildings, the tearing asunder of the 
walls of houses, and the shrieks of the wounded, lent 
a fearful horror to the scene. All sought to leave 
the town and get into the plains, in order to avoid 

Scio, before this earthquake, which occurred in 1881, was a rich and beautiful 
island belonging to Turkey, west of Asia Minor. 



248 Disasters in Town and Country. 

being buried under the falling buildings, but even 
those who gained the open country were by no 
means safe. 

4. The earthquake attacked not only the towns 
and villages, but worked its ravages in the hills and 
mountains of the island. Enormous masses of rock 
and earth came rushing down the hillsides, carrying 
all before them, bounding far over the plains, and 
tearing roads in the solid mountain such as might 
have been formed by a torrent a thousand years old. 

5. Great fissures and crevices yawned in the streets, 
walls were falling with a crashing report, and entire 
buildings crumbled to the ground. Mosques, min'- 
arets, and the government palace became tottering 
ruins. In many places whole streets had disappeared. 
No one knew where to look for family or friends. 
The ground still heaved and tossed, bringing fresh 
buildings to the ground at every moment. 

6. Parents wandered from place to place seeking 
their children and endeavoring to persuade them- 
selves that their darlings would be found among the 
living. In an instant an entire village, built on the 
side of a hill, broke bodily away from the parent 
rock, and rushed crashing down into the plain. 

7. The scene is sickening. Here a hand makes 
feeble signs through a crev'ice, while the unfortunate 
wretch to whom it belongs is buried beneath tons of 
masonry. There a voice calls for aid from under- 
ground. A daughter sobbing endeavors to encour- 
age her father, who is imprisoned deep below the 
surface ; and at every turn of the spade or pick some 
horribly mutilated corpse is brought to light. 



About Birds — The Eagle, 



Blackboard Drawing. American Eagle. Height, 3 feet; width 
of outspread wings, 8 feet. 



XVIL ABOUT BIRDS. 

i. Here is a bird which can rise in the air as 
high as any balloon, and can steer itself so as to 
go whither it wishes, which is more than the 
man in the balloon can do. For this purpose it 
is contrived with wonderful wisdom. Number- 
less air-cells are distributed throughout its body, 
extending even into its bones. These air-cells 
the bird can fill at pleasure, and thus rise more 
easily in the air, or it can empty them and 
make itself heavier, so as to descend more rap- 
idly upon its prey. Its feathers are models 
of strength and lightness. It is an American 
eagle. 

2. The Eagle is a bird of prey — that is, it 
procures its food by violence or robbery, seizing 
not only other birds but also young fawns, rac- 
coons, rabbits, wild turkeys, etc. Its height or 



250 Birds of Prey — Eagle — Condor. 

length is about three feet. Some eagles have 
been known to live more than a hundred years. 

3. The Eagle is noted for its great strength 
and endurance, and it has been accepted as an 
emblem of the United States, also of Prussia, 
Austria, and other great nations. 

4. Although eagles have been reported to be 
very fierce, and as having carried off young chil- 
dren, yet they have not always shown as much 
bravery and courage as some smaller birds. 

5. On account of the eagle's cowardice and tyranny 
Benjamin Franklin lamented that it should have been se- 
lected as the emblem of this country. 

6. The young eagles, called eaglets, are driven from 
their eyrie {a 1 re), or nest, by the old ones, so soon as they 
are able to provide for themselves. 




Head and Bill of Hummingr-Bird, 1 inch long; of Ea^le, 10 
inches ; of Condor, 10 inches— all to be drawn on the black- 
hoard full size. 

7. The largest bird of flight is the Condor, 
which has its home in the Andes Mountains. 
It lives in the highest and loneliest places, and, 
like the eagle, it is a bird of prey. Two of 



Condor — OwL 



251 



them, driven by hunger, do not hesitate to at- 
tack a horse, or a bull, or other large animal, 
which they tear to pieces with their strong, 
sharp beaks and talons (claws) ; and when they 

have killed it they so 
gorge themselves with its 
flesh that they are unable 
to fly. Men who wish 
to capture them take ad- 
vantage of this greedi- 
ness, and leave the dead 
body of a horse or other 
animal on the field until 
the condor has eaten so 
much as to become help- 
less. Its height is about 
four feet. 

8. Humboldt, a celebrated 
German naturalist and travel- 
ler, once noticed a condor fly- 
ing over the summit of Chim- 
borazo (Chim-bo-rah'zo), a 
mountain in South America 
more than four miles high. 
Humboldt made very important explorations in the Old 
World, also in Mexico, the West Indies, the United 
States of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 

9. The Owl is remarkable for its large, round 
eyes, feathered ears, and fear of daylight. It flies 
about and seeks its food in the night-time, de- 




Blackboard Drawing-. 
Barn OwL Height 15 inches. 



2 52 Sizes of Birds — Hawk — Humming-bird. 

vouring mice, birds, moles, young rabbits, etc. 
It builds in caves, old walls, towers, etc. There 
are more than a hundred species. 

10. The Osprey, or Fish-hawk, is said to 
be able to carry a fish of its own weight, but 
the eagle, when he sees the osprey carrying off 
a fish, pounces upon him, and, forcing him to 
let go, swoops down with wonderful' swiftness, 
catching the falling fish before it can touch the 
water. 

ii. The birds of prey include the eagle, condor, 
vulture, falcon (faw'k?i), hawk, 
and owl. Their characteristics 
are strength, hooked bill, strong, 
sharp talons, fierce look, and keen 
scent. 

12. The Falcon obtains its prey while it is 
flying. It is trained to capture other birds. Its / 
home is in Europe and America. 

13. Birds vary in size, from the huge condor, 
that has a body four feet long, and wings which 
sometimes spread out fourteen feet in width, to 
the little humming-bird, which is not much 
larger than a big beetle. 

14. The Humming-bird is small and very 
beautiful. It is remarkable for its long bill, 
which reaches honey and insects inside of 
flowers, for its feathers of rich green, red, purple, 
and brown, and for the quick motions of its 
wings, which cause the humming sound. Like 




Weaver-birds — Oriole. 



2 53 



most other beautiful birds, they are more nume- 
rous in Brazil and other warm countries of 
South America than in the United States. 
There are about four hundred species of hum- 
ming-birds. 

15. Audubon, the celebrated American ornithologist, 
in describing the humming-bird, called it the " glittering 
fragment of the rainbow." 

16. There is a bird that knows how to sew, and 
is therefore called the tailor-bird. He sews 

leaves together and thus 
forms his nest. Others 
take long grass or any 
other fibrous material, and 
weave it into a kind of 
coarse cloth, of which 
they make their nests. 

17. We have one of 
these weaver-birds in 
our country. It is called 
the Baltimore Oriole, 
a beautiful bird covered 
with orange and black 
feathers. 

18. This nest, as you 
see, (referring to the 
drawing on the black- 

Blackboard drawing: of Balti- board), is not Only 
more Oriole. Full lengrth of , - ' - 1 

bird, 7x inches. strongly woven together. 




254 Plasterer Birds — Chimney -swallow. 

but kept from swaying too violently in the 
wind by cords that brace it in different direc- 
tions. 

19. The Baltimore oriole spends the winter in Mexico, 
Central America, and the West Indies, and returns north 
in the spring, flying all day and resting at night. It is 
known as far north as the New England States, and is 
sometimes called . the " fire-bird/' from its color, also 
" hang-bird " and " golden robin." 

20. Some birds are good plasterers, and fix 
their nests with mud or clay very neatly and se- 
curely in any favorable place. Some are so skil- 
ful as to make them adhere securely to the 
smooth surface of glass. 

21. Our common Chimney-swallow is a 
very good plasterer. 

22. He has, besides, a very curious arrangement in his 
head. There are two glands or bags in the back part of it, 
which are filled with liquid glue. After he has made a shelf 
of mud or clay he makes his nest of tender twigs, interlacing 
them and joining their ends smoothly together by means 
of this liquid glue, so that no rough ends may stick out on 
the inside. After being lined with feathers or any other soft 
material and securely plastered around on the outside, it is 
ready for the eggs. 

23. Cuvier was one of the greatest naturalists that 
ever lived. His attention was first called to this study by 
some of these plasterers. When quite a young man he 
went one summer to spend his vacation in a little place 
near the sea. Just outside of his window two swallows 
had built their nest. One day a strange bird came and 
took possession of the nest, opposing its sharp beak to the 



Ingenuity of Birds. 255 

mother-bird when she came home. She and her mate 
chattered together for some time, and then flew away. 

24. They came back soon, however, with a great many 
others. They chattered together for a little while, and 
then flew away again. 

25. Presently they all reappeared, flying in a long 
file, one after the other, each bearing some mud in its 
claws. They flew close to the nest, where sat the strange 
bird in impudent security, and, as they passed, each threw 
the mud he carried directly into the face of the intruder, 
which was thus killed and buried in the very place of his 
crime — the nest he had stolen. 

26. From that moment Cuvier devoted himelf to the 
study of birds, fishes, insects, quadrupeds, and other ani- 
mals, and became distinguished for his knowledge of natu- 
ral history. 

27. There are other birds which may be called 
miners, for they dig holes in the earth and make 
their nests at the end of these holes. 

28. Such are the Sand Martins, which dig in 
a dry sand-bank horizontal galleries, at the ends 
of which they have their comfortable nests. They 
fly about in small flocks, and seem to make very 
pleasant and sociable little communities. 

29. These things show that birds, though their heads 
are small, must have brains. 

30. It is said by some naturalists that the Canary-bird 
has a larger brain in proportion to the size of its body than 
any other living creature ; however, it is wonderful to see 
these bright little birds, after only a fortnight's training, 
act before an audience, fight mimic battles and duels, fire 
cannons, fall down as if shot, and, feigning death, be car- 
ried off by their companions with astonishing composure, 



256 Cormorant — Toucan — Bird-of Paradise. 




Cormorant, length 3 feet ; Toucan, 17 inches long:, its bill, 9 in- 
ches; Bird-of- Paradise, head and body together, 12 inches in 
length ; its tail-feathers, 24 inches. Draw full size. 

31. The birds trained by the Chinese to catch 
fish for their masters are called Cormorants. 

32. Like the duck, goose, and swan, the cor- 
morant has webbed feet and short legs. He is 
a very expert diver and swimmer, making use 
not only of his feet but also of his wings under 
the water. 

33. The Toucan (too'kan) is remarkable for 
its large orange-red bill, which is more than half 
as long as its body. 

34. The feathers of its back and wings are 
mostly black, and of its throat, white. It builds 
in the holes of trees, and feeds on fruits, small 
birds, reptiles, and insects. 

35. Unlike eagles and condors, which live in 
pairs, the toucans live in flocks. 

36. They are numerous in Brazil and other 
warm parts of South America. 

37. The Bird-of-Paradise, from which long, 
beautiful feathers of brilliant colors — green, 



Movements of Birds. 



2 S7 



yellow, red, and purple — are obtained for ladies* 
hats, is a native of the island of Papua (pap'- 
oo-a), or New Guinea. It is found also on 
Celebes (sere-bees), the Philippine (fil'ip- 
pin), and other islands southeast of Asia. It 
is about as large as a pigeon, and feeds on seeds, 
grasshoppers, etc. 

38. Other birds which are remarkable for the length 
and beauty of their tails are the Lyre-bird of Australia 
and the Trogan of the Torrid Zone. 

39. The rapidity 
with which birds can 
move through the 
air is astonishing. 
Few persons have 
any idea of the force 
expended in the ac- 
tion of flight. 

40. Some birds fly I* 1 
so rapidly that the strokes of 
the wing cannot be counted. 
The wings of the humming- 
bird when in motion cannot 
even be seen. 

41. Let any one try to 
count the strokes of the wing 
of a pigeon or of the diving 
sea-fowl, and he will find that it is utterly im- 
possible. 




Birds buildingr a nest. 



258 Carrier-pigeon — Ostrich. 

42. Still more astonishing is the wonderful 
power possessed by some birds of finding their 
way through the pathless air, with no apparent 
means of guiding their course. This has been 
turned to account by man in the case of the 
Carrier-pigeons, which are used in carrying let- 
ters to distant places. 

43. When Paris was besieged by the Germans in 1870, 
a great many letters were carried to and fro by these birds. 

44. Their general rate of flight does not usually exceed 
thirty miles per hour. 

45. Some carrier-pigeons were let loose at Scranton, in 
Pennsylvania, in 1878, and they alighted on the coop of 
their owner in the city of New York, after flying a dis- 
tance of one hundred and six miles, in about three hours. 

46. Pigeon-hawks must, of course, fly faster 
than pigeons so as to catch them, and they are 
sometimes trained for that purpose, so that the 
letters carried by the carrier-pigeons may come 
into the possession of those for whom they 
were not intended. 

47. Some birds, on the other -:_ 
hand, cannot fly at all. In this case 
their bones are as solid as ours. One 
of these, the Ostrich, is the tallest 
of living birds, being sometimes 
eight to ten feet high, and weigh- 
ing from fifty to one hundred pounds, ostriches. 

48. They furnish us with very beautiful feath- 
ers. These are so valuable that men have 




Cassowary — Emu — Mound-bird. 259 

caught and tamed the ostriches, and you may 
now see in South Africa ostrich farms where 
these birds are reared. 

49. There is an ostrich found in South Ameri- 
ca, but it is smaller than the African ostrich. It 
is called the Rhea. Its feathers are so much 
less beautiful that, in place of adorning the 
heads of our ladies, they are made into feather 
dusters. 

50. During the day the heat of the sun aids in hatching 
the eggs of the African ostrich, but at night the male bird 
sits on the nest so as to protect the eggs from all assaults, 
and if attacked by a wild animal it will kill it by a kick. 
One of these eggs will weigh from two to three pounds, 
and is equal to about twenty- four such eggs as you some- 
times have for breakfast. 

51. The Cas'so-wa-ry of Eastern Asia and the 
E'mu of Australia resemble the ostrich very much, but 
are not so large. They are very swift runners. The os- 
trich when pursued runs about thirty miles an hour, and is 
only captured by Arabs on swift horses after a chase of 
several hours. 

52. Some eagles, hawks, and crows are so 
cunning as to have found out that a turtle or a 
clam, no matter how closely shut up, may be 
opened by being carried up high into the air 
and then let fall upon a rock. 

53. The Mound-birds, that live in Australia, are cun- 
ning enough to have found out that fermenting vege- 
table matter gives out heat enough to hatch eggs ; so, 
after scraping up grass and weeds in their claws, they 
throw them together so as to make a huge heap or mound, 



260 



Usefulness of Birds. 



sometimes seven feet high and twenty feet across. The 
heat of the interior of this is said to reach sometimes 
ninety-five degrees. 

54. In this mound the birds make holes, in which they 
deposit their eggs, and leave them there to be hatched out 
by this internal heat. 

55. Our domestic fowls, as well as many other birds, 
supply us with food. Others supply us with feathers for 
our pillows; others give us pens to write with. In some 
places men train hawks to catch other birds for them, and 

some large hawks are trained 
to kill even gazelles and small 
deer. 

56. Birds also give men much 
amusement by the various 
tricks they are taught. Par- 
rots and some other birds can 
be taught to pronounce words, 
and can be made to repeat 
whole sentences so naturally as 
to startle and surprise those 
people who hear them. 

5 7. Birds are very use- 
ful to us, not only for food 
and their beautiful feath- 
ers, but also for destroy- 
ing insects which would do great damage to 
trees and plants. They also devour snakes, 
lizards, etc. 

58. The Serpent bird of Africa will attack a large 
snake, making use of one of his strong wings as a shield 
and of the other as a weapon, with which he inflicts blow 
after blow until the reptile is overcome. 




Parrot. 



Woodpecker — Pelican. 




Blackboard Drawing* : White Pelican ; full length, 5 feet ; bill, 
14 inches long ; pouch, 7 inches deep. Woodpecker ; full 
length, 15 inches. 

59. The Woodpecker appears to have a 
hard life when compared with that of birds 
which easily find their food on the ground, in 
the water, or among the leaves of the trees; 
for the worms and insects upon which he lives 
are hidden away in the trunks of trees. To 
get them he must tear away the bark and per- 
haps bore or drill deep holes in the hard wood. 
This he does with his long, strong bill, much 
faster than any of you could do it with a sharp 
knife. 

60. The Woodpecker runs up and around the trunk of 
a tree, tapping with his bill as he goes, and when he hears 
a 'hollow sound, he knows a worm is there. 

61. Some Woodpeckers also bore large holes in trees 
in which to build their nests. 

62. The Pelican is remarkable for the great 
pouch or sack which is under its long bill and 



262 



The Hi 



eron. 



which serves as a kind 
of scoop-net. This pouch 
will hold fish sufficient 
for the dinner of six men. 

63. Pelicans are expert fish- 
ers. A number of them will 
surround a shoal of fishes and, 
gradually swimming closer to- 
gether, drive them into shallow 
water, where they devour them 
in large quantities. Having 
webbed feet, they are excellent 
swimmers. 

64. They feed their young 
with food which they had swal- 
lowed, and which they have the 
power of raising to their bills. 

65. Pelicans are found in 
Florida, California and other 
parts of North America ; also 
in Asia, Africa and Southeast- 
ern Europe. Some are white, and others brown. 

66. Another excellent fisher is the Heron. 
It is remarkable for its long, curved neck, long 
bill, and long, straight legs, which are admirably 
adapted to its mode of life. Its feet are not 
webbed and, consequently, it is not a swimmer. 

67. Its home is near swamps. Its food consists of 
fish, frogs, etc., which it catches by watching in dark, 
lonely spots. In this respect it differs from the Pelican, 
Gull, Petrel and Ibis, which are very active. 




Blackboard Drawing-: Her- 
on ; full height, SV 2 feet. 



Flamingo — Stork. 263 

68. Another very tall bird similar in shape to 
the Heron is the Red Flamingo. It is a swim- 
mer and wader. With its webbed feet it digs 
in the mud for worms, insects, and small fishes. 

69. It is found in the marshes, lakes, and rivers of 
Asia, Africa, and the warm parts of Europe. It is about 
as tall as a man. 

70. The White Stork is also a long-legged 
wader. It is noted for its intelligence and is 
very observing, readily judging of the feelings 
entertained toward it by the people on whose 
house-tops or chimney-tops it wishes to build 
its great, rough nest. 

71. In Holland and Germany, which Storks visit 
every year, some of these birds become very tame and 
play with the children in the streets. Their feet are not 
webbed. Are Storks swimmers ? You will observe that 
all birds which have webbed feed are good swimmers, but 
very clumsy walkers, as the Goose, Swan and Duck. 

72. When the time arrives for Storks to leave their nests 
and migrate, they have been known to kill their sick ; but, 
on the other hand, they are generally kind to each other, 
and the young have been noticed to watch anxiously over 
the aged and helpless of their kind, bringing them food 
and otherwise tenderly caring for them. 

73. The Stork passes the winter in Egypt, where, like 
the Vulture, another large bird, it feeds on garbage, car- 
rion and other such substances, thus preventing the spread 
of disease among the people who are too indolent to 
cleanse their streets. It is about as tall as a boy nine 
years of age — four feet. 



2 64 Crane — Swan — Kingfisher. 

74. The Crane is another long-necked, long-legged 
bird, very active, graceful, and intelligent. Like the Stork, 
it spends its winters in Egypt and other warm countries 
and its summers further north. Its food is fish, frogs, and 
vegetables. 

75. The Swan, which has a long neck and short legs, 

is considered the most grace- 
ful of swimmers. Both father 
and mother carry their young 
on their backs and shelter 
them under their wings ; and, 
should the safety of their brood 
be threatened, they do not 
hesitate to attack man, horse, 
fox, dog, or any other aggres- 
sor. 

76. Swans belong to Europe, 
Asia and North America ; their 
food consists chiefly of the 
roots and bulbs of water plants. 
It is said that some Swans live 
as long as an Elephant — one 
hundred years. 

77. The Kingfisher, 
like the Gull, pounces 

Blackboard Drawing: King- UpOIl its prey at the SUr- 
fisher; length, 12 inches. ^ Qf ^ water . ^ 

unlike it, it sits alone on a branch which over- 
hangs the water, while the Gull and the Stormy 
Petrel skim rapidly and almost unceasingly 
over the water in search of their food, 





Blackboard Drawing : Snipe and Common Quail ; height of each 
about 9 inches. 

78. The Snipe, a much smaller bird than the 
Heron, has long legs and a long, slender bill, 
which are admirably adapted to procuring its 
food — insects and worms on coasts and marshes. 

79. The Snipe belongs chiefly to North America and 
Europe. Included in this family are the Woodcock and 
Plover, which are highly prized by sportsmen. The 
Penguin of the Antarctic Regions, and the Puffin and 
Auk of the Arctic Regions sit upright when on shore. 

80. The Quail has a short bill and feeds on 
grain, seeds, berries and insects, which it finds 
on the ground. It flies low and only when 
startled lights upon trees. 

81. Quails pass the night on the ground, all huddled 
together in a circle, with their heads outward, the better 
to listen and fly if danger approaches. 

82. Similar to the Quail are the Partridge, Pheasant, 
and Grouse ; indeed, these names are sometimes applied 
indiscriminately to the same kind of bird. 



266 The Beautiful Heron. 

XVIII. RAMBLES AMONG BIRDS. 




I. Warning Notes— The Heron. 

DWARD 1 had entered a narrow glen. He 
was listening to the voice of the cuckoo, 
and the clap-clap of the ring-pigeons, which 
rose in great numbers, when an abrupt turn of the 
road brought him, suddenly and unexpectedly, within 
a few yards of a beautiful her'on. 

2. "I immediately stood still/' he says. "The 
upright and motionless attitude of the bird indicated 
plainly that he had been taken by surprise ; and for 
the moment he seemed, as it were, stunned and in- 
capable of flight. There he remained, as if fastened 
to the spot, his bright yellow eye staring me full in 
the face, and with an expression that seemed to 
inquire what right I had to intrude into solitudes 
where the human form is so rarely seen. 

3. "As we were thus gazing at each other, in mutual 
surprise at having met in such a place, I observed 
his long slender neck quietly and gradually doubling 
down upon his breast. His dark and lengthened 
plumes were at the same time slightly shaken. 

4. " I knew by this that he was about to rise ; 
another moment, and he was up. Stretching his 
long legs behind- him, he uttered a scream so dismal, 
wild, and loud that the very glen and hills re-echoed 
the sound, and the whole scene was instantly filled 
with clamor. 

1 A Scotch Naturalist. 



Maternal Affection. 267 

5. " The sandpiper screamed its kit tie-nee die ; the 
pigeon cooed ; the pipit, with lively emotion, came 
flying round me, uttering all the while its peeping 
note ; the meadow-hen sprung up with whirring 
wing from her heath lair, and gave forth her well- 
known and indignant birr birr-bick ; the curlew came 
sailing down the glen with steady flight, and added 
to the noise with his shrill and peculiar notes of poo- 
clie poo-clie coorlie coorlie wlia-np; and, from the 
loftier parts of the hills, the plovers ceased not their 
mournful wail, which accorded so well with the scene 
of which I alone appeared to be a silent spectator. 

6. " I moved not a foot until the alarmed inmates 
of the glen and the mountain had disappeared, and 
solemn stillness had again resumed its sway." 

II. Affection of Birds — The Wild Duck. 

N the following day, I observed a curlew rise 
from a marshy part of the hill, to which I 
bent my steps in hopes of finding her nest. 

2. In this, however, I was disappointed ; but I 
came upon a wild duck lying beside a tuft of rushes. 

3. It may be mentioned that there had been a 
heavy snow-storm, which had forced the plovers and 
wild ducks to abandon their nests, though then full 
of eggs. 

4. As I imagined she was skulking with a view to 
avoid observation, I touched her with my stick, in 
order that she might rise ; but she rose not. 




1 Sand'pi-per, a wading bird resembling a snipe. 



268 Maternal Affection. 

5. I was surprised, and on a nearer inspection I 
found that she was dead. She lay raised a little on 
one side, her neck stretched out, her mouth open 
and full of snow, her wings somewhat extended, and 
with one of her legs appearing a little behind her. 

6. Near to it there were two eggs. On my dis- 
covering this, I lifted up the bird, and underneath 
her was a nest containing eleven eggs; these, with 
the two others, made thirteen in all : a few of them 
were broken. 

7. I examined the whole of them, and found them, 
without exception, to contain young birds. This 
was an undoubted proof that the poor mother had 
sat upon them from two to three weeks. With her 
dead body in my hand, I sat down to investigate the 
matter, and to ascertain, if I could, the cause of her 
death. 

8. I examined her minutely all over, and could 
find neither wound nor any mark whatever of vio- 
lence. She had every appearance of having died 
of suffocation. Although I had only circumstantial 
evidence, I had no hesitation in arriving at the con- 
clusion that she had come by her death in a desper- 
ate but faithful struggle to protect her eggs from the 
fatal effects of the recent snow-storm. 

9. I could not help thinking, as I looked at her, 
how deep and striking an example she afforded of 
maternal affection. The ruthless blast had swept 
with all its fury along the lonesome and unsheltered 
hill. The snow had risen higher, and the smothering 
drift came fiercer, as night drew on ; yet still that 
poor bird, in defiance of the warring elements, con- 



Burial of the Wild Duck. 269 

tinued to protect her home and the treasure which 
it contained, until she could do so no longer, and 
yielded up her life. That life she could easily have 
saved, had she been willing to abandon the offspring 
which nature had taught her so fervently to cherish, 
and in endeavoring to preserve which she volun- 
tarily remained and died. 

10. Occupied with such feelings and reflections as 
these, I know not how long I might have sat, had I 
not been roused from my reverie by the barking of 
a shepherd's dog. 

11. The sun had already set, the gray twilight 
had begun to hide the distant mountains from my 
sight, and not caring to be benighted on such a spot, 
I wrapped a piece of paper, as a winding-sheet, round 
the faithful and devoted bird, and digging a little 
grave, I laid into it the mother and the eggs. 

12. I covered them with earth and moss, and over 
all placed a solid piece of turf. Having done so, 
and being more affected than I should perhaps be 
willing to acknowledge, I left them to molder into 
their original dust, and went on my way. 





2 yo Terns Fishing. 



III. Bravery of Birds — Terns. 

HAVING thus related an instance of mater- 
nal affection on the part of the wild duck, 
let us cite a still more remarkable instance 
of brotherly sympathy and help on the part of the 
common tern, 1 or sea swallow. 

2. " Being on the sands one afternoon at the end 
of August, I observed several parties of terns busily 
employed in fishing. As I was in want of a speci- 
men of this bird, I loitered about on the beach nar- 
rowly watching their motions. 

3. "The scene around was of no common beauty. 
In the azure heaven not a cloud was to be seen, as 
far as the eye could reach ; not a breath of wind was 
stirring the placid bosom of the firth. The atmos- 
phere seemed a sea, as it were, of living things ; 
so numerous w r ere the insects that hummed and 
fluttered to and fro in all directions. The sun, ap- 
proaching the verge of the horizon, shot long and 
glimmering bands of green and gold across the broad 
mirror of the deep. Here and there several vessels 
were lying becalmed, their whitened sails showing 
brightly in the goldened light. 

4. "An additional interest was imparted by the 
herring-boats which were congregating in the bay ; 
their loose and flagging sails, the noise of the oars, 
and the efforts of the rowers, told plainly enough 
that a hard pull would have to be undergone before 
they could reach their particular quarters for fishing. 

1 Tern, an aquatic fowl resembling a gull. 



A Tern Diving for Fish. 271 

5. " While I stood surveying with delight the ex- 
tended and glorious prospect, and witnessing with 
admiration the indefatigable evolutions of the terns 
in their search for food, I observed one of them 
break off from a party of five, and direct his course 
toward the shore, fishing all the way as he came. 

6. " It was an interesting sight to behold him as 
he approached in his flight — at one moment rising, 
at another descending — now poised in mid-air, his 
wings expanded but motionless, his piercing eye 
directed to the water beneath, and watching with 
eager gaze the movements of its scaly inhabitants 
— and now, as one of them would ever and anon 
come sufficiently near the surface, making his attack 
upon the fish in the manner so thoroughly taught 
him by nature. 

7. " Quick as thought, he closed to his side his 
outspread pinions; turned off his equilib'rium with a 
movement almost imperceptible ; and, with a seem- 
ing carelessness, threw himself headlong into the 
deep so rapidly that the eye could with difficulty 
keep pace with his descent. 

8. ",In the least space of time he would be seen 
sitting on the water, swallowing his prey. This 
being accomplished he again mounted into the air. 
He halts in his progress. Something has caught his 
eye. He lets himself down ; but it is only for a lit- 
tle, for his expected prey has vanished from his sight. 

9. " Once more he soars aloft on lively wing ; and 
having attained a certain elevation, and hovering 
for a little, with quick-repeated strokes of his pinions 
he rapidly descends. 



272 The Wounded Tern. 

10. " Again, however, his hoped-for victim has 
made its escape ; and he bounds away in an oblique * 
direction, describing a beautiful curve as he rises 
without having touched the water. 

ii. "-Shortly after, he wings his way nearer and 
nearer to the beach ; onward he advances with zig- 
zag flight, when suddenly, as if struck down by an 
unseen hand, he drops into the water within about 
thirty yards of the place where I am standing. 

12. "As he righted and sat on the bosom of the 
deep, I was enabled distinctly to perceive that he 
held in his bill a little scaly captive, which he had 
snatched from its home, and which struggled vio- 
lently -to regain its liberty. Its struggles were in 
vain ; a few squeezes from the mandibles 2 of the bird 
put an end to its existence. 

13. "Being now within my reach, I stood pre- 
pared for the moment when he should again arise. 
This he did so soon as the fish was dispatched. I 
fired, and he came down with a broken wing, scream- 
ing as he fell into the water. The report of the 
gun, together with his cries, brought together the 
party he had left, in order that they might ascertain 
the cause of the alarm. 

14. " After surveying their wounded brother round 
and round, as he was drifting unwittingly toward 
the shore with the flowing tide, they came flying in 
a body to the spot where I stood, and rent the air 
with their screams. 



1 Oblique, ob-leek', slanting. 

2 Man'di-bles, jaws. 



Wounded Tern Rescued. 273 

15. " These they continued to utter, regardless of 
their own individual safety, until I began to make 
preparations for receiving the approaching bird. 

16. "I could already see that it was a beautiful 
adult' specimen ; and I expected in a few moments 
to have it in my possession, being not very far from 
the water's edge. 

17. " While matters were in this position, I beheld, 
to my utter astonishment and surprise, two of the 
unwounded terns take hold of their disabled com- 
rade, one at each wing, lift him out of the water, and 
bear him out seaward. They were followed by two 
other birds. 

18. " After being carried about six or seven yards, 
he was let gently down again, when he was taken 
up in a similar manner by the two which had been 
hitherto inactive. 

19. " In this way they continued to carry him 
alternately, until they had conveyed him to a rock 
at a considerable distance, upon which they landed 
him in safety. 

20. " Having recovered my self-possession, I made 
toward the rock, wishing to obtain the prize which 
had been so unceremoniously snatched from my 
grasp. I was observed, however, by the terns; and 
instead of four, I had in a short time a whole flock 
about me. 

21. " On my near approach to the rock, I once 
more beheld two of them take hold of the wounded 
bird as they had done already, and bear him out to 
sea in triumph, far beyond my reach. This, had I 
been so inclined, I could no doubt have prevented. 



2 74 Perseverance of Birds. 

22. " Under the circumstances, however, my feel- 
ings would not permit me ; and I willingly allowed 
them to perform without molestation an act of 
mercy, and to exhibit an instance of affection, which 
man himself need not be ashamed to imitate. 

23. " I was, indeed, rejoiced at the. disappointment 
which they had occasioned, for they had thereby 
rendered me the witness of a scene which I could 
scarcely have believed, and which no length of time 
will efface from my recollection. " 



IV. Perseverance of Birds — The Turn-Stone. 




|T length I came in sight of the two little 
workers, which were busily endeavoring to 
turn over a dead fish which was fully six 
times their size. 

2. " I immediately recognized them as turn-stones. 
Not wishing to disturb them, and anxious at the 
same time to witness their operations, I observed 
that a few paces nearer them there was a deep hol- 
low among the shingle, which I contrived to creep 
into unobserved. 

3. " Having got fairly settled down, I turned my 
undivided attention to the birds before me. They 
were boldly pushing at the fish with their bills, and 
then with their breasts. Their endeavors, however, 
were in vain : the object remained immovable. On 
seeing this, they both went round to the opposite 
side, and began to scrape away the sand from be- 
neath the fish, 



Birds Exhibiting Signs of Joy. 275 

4. " After removing a considerable quantity, they 
again came back to the spot which they had left, and 
went once more to work with their bills and breasts, 
but with as little apparent success as formerly. 

5. " Nothing daunted, however, they ran round a 
second time to the other side, and recommenced 
their trenching operations with a seeming determi- 
nation not to be baffled in their object, which evi- 
dently was to undermine the dead animal before 
them, in order that it might be the more easily over- 
turned. 

6. " While they were thus employed, and after 
they had labored in this manner at both sides alter- 
nately for nearly half an hour, they were joined by 
another of their own species, which came flying with 
rapidity from the neighboring rocks. 

7. " Its timely arrival was hailed with evident signs 
of joy. I was led to this conclusion from the ges- 
tures which they exhibited, and from a low but 
pleasant murmuring noise to which they gave utter- 
ance so soon as the new-comer made his appearance. 

8. " Of their feelings he seemed to be perfectly 
aware, and he made his reply to them in a similar 
strain. Their mutual congratulations being over, 
they all three set to work ; and after laboring vigor- 
ously for a few minutes in removing the sand, they 
came round to the other side, and putting their 
breasts simultaneously to the fish, they succeeded in 
raising it some inches from the sand, but were un- 
able to turn it over. It went down again into its 
sandy bed, to the manifest disappointment of the 
three. 



2j6 Sagacity of Birds. 

9. " Resting, however, for a while, and without 
leaving their respective positions, which were a little 
apart the one from the other, they resolved, it 
appears, to give the work another trial. 

10. " Lowering themselves, with their breasts close 
to the sand, they managed to push their bills under- 
neath the fish, which they made to rise to about the 
same height as before. 

11. " Afterward, withdrawing their bills, but with- 
out losing the advantage which they had gained, 
they applied their breasts to the object. This they 
did with such force and to such purpose that at 
length it went over and rolled several yards down a 
slight declivity. 

12. " It was followed to some distance by the birds 
themselves, before they could recover their bearing. 

13. "'I was so pleased, and even delighted, with 
the sagacity and perseverance which they had shown, 
that I should have considered myself guilty of a crime 
had I taken away the lives of these interesting beings 
at the very moment when they were exercising, in 
a manner so happily for themselves, the wonderful 
instincts implanted in them by their Creator." 

Thomas Edward, the Scotch Naturalist, whose life has been 
written by Samuel Smiles, was born in 1814. He lived in Aber- 
deen, in the northern part of Scotland, where he pursued his love of 
nature surrounded by difficulties and troubles — not the least of 
which was that of domestic poverty. Having to work hard as a 
shoemaker, to support his family, he spent most of his nights out- 
of-doors, amidst damp, and wet, and cold, in search of knowledge. 
Many men thought him mad for undergoing such privations. In 
1866, he was elected an Associate of the Linnaean Society — one of 
the highest honors that science could confer upon him. 



Notes on Birds. 2JJ 



NOTES ON BIRDS. 

i. Birds are great travelers. Many, after they have 
brought up their young to take care of themselves, under- 
take voyages which are sometimes very long. They are 
guided by an instinct which we find it difficult to under- 
stand, and they never lose their way. 

2. In this, the North Temperate Zone, they set out 
every autumn about the same date, always in the same 
direction, and their return is one of the welcome signs of 
spring. 

3. Some fly in pairs, and others in flocks ; some by day, 
others by night ; some high in air, descending only occa- 
sionally and for short periods, while others less able to 
endure long flights make their way from tree to tree and 
from forest to forest Aquatic birds make their way 
partly by flying and partly by swimming. 

4. More than half the birds of North America fly to 
the Southern States, Mexico, West Indies, or Brazil, where 
they pass the winter. 

5. Birds are almost everywhere, — in the frozen as well 
as the temperate zones, and in the tropical forests ; on 
plain and prairie, desert and marsh ; on hill and in valley ; 
on mountain and clifT ; in the brightest sunshine and in the 
darkest cavern. They inhabit the air, land, and water. 

6. Some never fly, while others seem never to cease 
flying; some are always on the ground, while others are 
never seen to touch it ; some are so active that their wings 
cannot be seen when in rapid motion, while others stand 
or sit in solitude as motionless as a stone. All, however, 
choose the place and pursue the course to which they are 
by nature adapted. 



2 78 



A Wild Fowl. 




The Waterfowl. 279 



XIX. THE WATERFOWL. 



aPEjgJjHITHER, midst falling dew, 

iaM\ While glow the heavens with the last steps 

' of day, 

Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue 
Thy solitary way ? 

Vainly the fowler's eye 

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 
As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, 

Thy figure floats along. 

Seek'st thou the plashy brink 

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, 

Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 
On the chafed ocean-side ? 

There is a power whose care 

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast — * 
The desert and illimitable air — 

Lone wandering, but not lost. 

All day thy wings have fanned, 

At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, 
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, 

Though the dark night is near. 

And soon that toil shall end ; 

Soon shalt thou find a summer-home, and rest, 
And scream among thy fellows ; reeds shall bend, 

Soon, o'er thy sheltered rest. 



2 80 Robert of L incoln. 

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven 

Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet, on my heart 
Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given, 

And shall not soon depart. 

He who, from zone to zone, 

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, 

In the long way that I must tread alone, 

Will lead my steps aright. 

Bryant. 




XX. ROBERT OF LINCOLN. 

ERRILY swinging on brier and weed, 
Near to the nest of his little dame, 
Over the mountain-side or mead, 
Robert of Lincoln is telling his name: 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Snug and safe is that nest of ours, 
Hidden among the summer flowers. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Robert of Lincoln is gayly drest, 

Wearing a bright black wedding-coat ; 
White are his shoulders and white his crest. 
Hear him call in his merry note: 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Look, what a nice new coat is mine, 
Sure there was never a bird so fine. 
Chee, chee, chee. 



Robert of L incoln. 2 8 1 

Robert of Lincoln's Quaker wife, 

Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings, 
Passing at home a patient life, 

Broods in the grass while her husband sings: 
Bob-o'-link,. bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Brood, kind creature ; you need not fear 
Thieves and robbers while I am here. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Modest and shy as a nun is she ; 

One weak chirp is her only note. 
Braggart and prince of braggarts is he, 
Pouring boasts from his little throat : 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Never was I afraid of man ; 
Catch me, cowardly knaves, if you can! 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Six white eggs on a bed of hay, 

Flecked with purple, a pretty sight ! 
There as the mother sits all day, 

Robert is singing with all his might : 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Nice good wife, that never goes out, 
Keeping house while I frolic about. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Soon as the little ones chip the shell, 
Six wide mouths are open for food ; 

Robert of Lincoln bestirs him well, 
Gathering seeds for the hungry brood. 



282 Robert of Lincoln. 

Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 

Spink, spank, spink; 
This new life is likely to be 
Hard for a gay young fellow like me. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Robert of Lincoln at length is made 

Sober with work, and silent with care ; 
Off is his holiday garment laid, 
Half forgotten that merry air: 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink; 
Nobody knows but my mate and I 
Where our nest and our nestlings lie. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Summer wanes ; the children are grown ; 

Fun and frolic no more he knows ; 
Robert of Lincoln's a humdrum crone ; 
Off he flies, and we sing as he goes ; 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink; 
When you can pipe that merry old strain, 
Robert of Lincoln, come back again. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Bryant. 

William Cullen Bryant, a celebrated poet and editor, born 
in Massachusetts in 1794. He moved to the city of New York in 
1825. His talent as a writer was remarkable at the eleventh year 
of his age, and throughout his life — which extended to a good 
old age. In his untiring industry, his nobleness of character, his 
modesty and purity, the example of his life is one which all young 
Americans should follow. 



A Family of Tame Birds. 283 



XXL HOSPITALITY OF BIRDS. 

|NE winter, when I lived in the country, I 
had a family of six tame, but uncaged birds ; 
they were a strange-looking group, but, 
nevertheless, a very happy one. 

2. There was a jackdaw, a magpie, two skylarks, 
a goldfinch, and a robin, and they lived when at 
home in a large and well-thatched aviary, which was 
placed in a very sheltered position. In this abode 
they kept open house, for there was always a good 
supply of food kept therein, and the door was never 
shut save at night, when we closed it to keep out stray 
cats, rats, and other enemies of the feathered race. 

3. After partaking of a good breakfast, they would 
daily leave their comfortable house on expeditions 
of pleasure or business, and return regularly to their 
supper and perch. 

4. During the very cold weather, they brought 
home nightly a party of hungry wild birds to share 
with themselves the hospitality of the aviary ; some- 
times their guests would number nearly two hun- 
dred, and it was really quite astonishing to see the 
quantity of bread, barley, and fat meat that these 
little beings would dispose of. Among the guests 
were golden-crested wrens, which were the first to 
reach and the last to quit their good quarters. 

5. Whilst they honored us with their company, 
they ruled the whole bird community, aud what 
they could not achieve by force they would accom- 
plish by stratagem, 



2.84 



Stratagem of Wrens. 



6. For instance, if one of these tiny creatures took 
a fancy to a piece of meat to which Mr. Jackdaw had 
helped himself, and which he was holding firmly 
down with one foot whilst he pecked at it, this mite 
of a bird would jump upon the jackdaw's head, and 
attack the eye that was situated on the side of the 
occupied foot. 

7. The poor jackdaw, not quite understanding 
what had gone wrong with him, would lift his foot 
to scratch away his tiny tormentor off his head, when 
in an instant the coveted morsel was seized by the 
daring thief. 

8. If, after selecting a piece of meat, the wrens 
were left to themselves, they would leave the larger 
birds and retire to a quiet corner, where they would 
both peck amicably at the same piece, and if the 
meat happened to be tough, one of the wise little 
things would hold it fast in its bill, while the other 
would pull a morsel off; and then the one that had 
eaten would perform the same kind office for his 
friend. 




Scatter Your Crumbs. 285 

XXII SCATTER YOUR CRUMBS. 




MIDST the freezing sleet and snow, 
The timid robin comes ; 
In pity drive him not away, 
But scatter out your crumbs. 

And leave your door upon the latch 

For whosoever comes ; 
The poorer they, more welcome give, 

And scatter out your crumbs. 

All have to spare, none are too poor, 
When want with winter comes ; 

The loaf is never all your own 
Then scatter out your crumbs. 

Soon winter falls upon your life, 

The day of reckoning comes : 
Against your sins, by high decree, 

Are weighed those scattered crumbs 




THE EAGLE. 

E clasps the crag with crooked hands ; 
Close to the sun in lonely lands, 
Ringed with the azure world, he stands. 

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls ; 
He watches from the mountain walls, 
And like a thunder-bolt he falls. 




286 A Noble Boy and 

XXIII. A NOBLE BOY AND HIS 
FAITHFUL BIRD. 

HE island of Sardinia, situated in the Medi- 
terranean Sea, contains mountains covered 
with fine trees, amid which are pleasant 
homes surrounded by flowers. 

2. Children play with rabbits and martins on the 
mountain-side, where vines leap from tree to tree, 
forming festoons and natural arbors, in which birds 
build their nests and sing their songs. 

3. Rivulets dash, dance, and sparkle on their way 
to the little lakes, on whose shores the orange ripens 
and grapes of unsurpassed richness cluster. When 
Rome was the Mistress of the World, Sardinia was 
called her gran'ary. 

4. In 1654, the hero of our story was born on this 
lovely island. A bright, proud, dark-eyed boy he 
grew, the very idol of his parents. He rowed on 
the ti'ny lake, chased the moufflon * on the moun- 
tain, and made the birds his friends. Two little sis- 
ters shared his love, and Francesco was a very happy 
boy, in a very happy home. 

5. One night, when he was ten years old, he kissed 
his parents and went to his nice attic bed, and slept 
the sleep of a good boy to whom life has been all 
love and joy, with never a sorrow or care. Let us 
stop and look at that calm sleep : for so shall Fran- 
cesco never sleep again ! 



Moufflon, moo f Ion, a kind of sheep. 



His Fa ithful Bird. 287 

6. The midnight was made hideous by that cry 
of " Fire ! Fire ! Fire ! " and he awoke to see, by a 
glare of light, his mother at his bedside with a little 
girl in either arm. Through crashing timbers, smoke 
and flames they made their way out. 

7. Those flames rose high and higher, grew hot 
and hotter — now rolling up as a scroll, now darting 
out in little tongues, and now sporting with each 
other in very wantonness of glee, while a huge col- 
umn of smoke rolled up and shut out all the bright- 
ness of heaven. Fiercely the flames raged, fiercely 
the men fought them ; and the father was foremost 
in the fight, until the dreadful fire leaped out and 
wrapped him in a death embrace. 

8. The watching mother, with one loud shriek, 
fell. As friends clustered around to bring het back 
to conscious x life, they saw that her feet were fearfully 
burned. In bringing out her children, she must 
have trodden on live coals, but in her anxiety, have 
forgotten herself. 

9. The sun on the morning after that happy even- 
ing — that awful night — rose calm and bright. It 
shone on the few charred a bones of the loving father ; 
on the prostrate mother, whose feet, swift to save her 
darlings, took then their last step ; on the smoulder- 
ing embers of the nice home ; on three poor little 
homeless orphans. It shone with not one gleam of 
sympathy in a single ray, and its very warmth and 
brightness made it seem cold and dark, and chilled 
Francesco's young, aching heart. 

1 Conscious, kon'shus, - Charred, tshdrd. 



288 A Noble Boy and 

10. For a time friends cared for the family ; but 
little was saved from the wreck of property, and 
often they suffered with hunger, and the mother 
was compelled to send her son to tell her friends. A 
cold look, an indifferent tone, was worse than hunger 
to him, yet for his mother and sisters he would brave 
even a frown. 

11. One night, as he lay on his hard bed, the 
moonlight shining through his little window, asking 
himself, as he had often done, " What can I do?" — 
a thought of the birds he used to pet came to him, 
and a smile played on his lips, though his eyes were 
blurred with his lone weeping, and great tears trem- 
bled on his long, dark eyelashes. 

12. In the morning he brought in some bits of 
wood &nd began to whittle. An assurance of coming 
independence was written all over his face, and he 
made the whole house cheery with the chirp of his 
musical whistle, 1 and his mother, in her chair, re- 
joiced to see her boy so happy. 

13. " These cups, mother, are for birds to drink 
out of; then I'll make some for seeds, and then 
some bath-tubs for them." 

14. " Where are your birds, Franco?" 

15. " The eggs for them are not laid yet! But 
they will be in the spring," he said, with a merry 
shout, " and I'll make the birds tame, and sell them, 
and buy you everything you need, mother ! — It will 
be splendid, mother!" he added after a little; "I 
will get some willows and build a real bird-house." 

J Whistle, whis'sl. 



His Faithful Bird. 289 

16. " But your birds must be fed, Franco. " 

17. "I know it ; I'll give them my dinner, and not 
care for myself." 

18. The mother smiled sadly: for she did not 
know how much a boy can do when his heart and 
mind are at work with a will ; but she would not 
dampen his pleasure by saying a discouraging word. 

19. Instead of dying out, his thoughts kept grow- 
ing — and thoughts do grow, — and he not only tamed 
some birds, but he taught them little tricks, and 
they sold well. 

20. Then his thought was very large : he would 
have an exhibition of tamed birds! He got some 
partridges — for those he found learned best — and 
trained them. Some he harnessed to a little brass 
cannon, and they would draw it across a table, while 
others would be armed with wooden swords, and all 
would march and wheel and form as Francesco 
beat on a ti'ny drum. Then all would stand still 
while one bird would fire off the cannon. 

21. One bird was his special pet, and grew to be 
his firm friend and constant companion. It learned 
everything, and helped him to teach the other birds, 
and it seemed as if they knew what the partridge 
said to them. 

22. It would scold, and even punish them, if they 
did not obey. But it was never content away from 
Franco. If he went to the woods or to the city, it 
would always go with him, — sometimes riding on his 
head, sometimes on his shoulder, and sometimes fly- 
ing around him, so that " the young bird-tamer and 
his bird " were spoken of together. 



290 Death of the Boy and Bird. 

23. But once his faithful partridge left him, — at a 
time, too, when he was feeling very sad, because a 
beautiful goldfinch he was taming for a lady had 
flown away, and he was almost discouraged. 

24 On the fifth day, however, back came the 
goldfinch chased by the partridge, which settled on 
Franco's hand with the air of a conqueror and love 
of a faithful friend. 

25. This noble boy fell sick. He wanted his birds, 
and they were let into his room ; they hovered 
around his bed, rested on his pillow, and ate from 
his hand and sang to him. But the partridge would 
not eat or make a sound. 

26. The moment came when the doctor said those 
sad words, " No hope." Not one moan rose for 
himself. But " Who will take care of my mother — of 
my mother — of — my — moth — er?" he moaned until 
the pale lips grew cold, and the bright eyes closed. 

27. They put the birds back into the aviary, 1 but 
the partridge could not be coaxed or driven from 
Francesco. They laid him in the coffin, and the 
partridge perched on it ; they bore him to the 
churchyard and it flew over, and with an eye fixed on 
that coffin, watched as they lowered it into the grave. 

28. Night and day it stayed in that tree, going 
away sometimes for food, but returning to the same 
tree, from which it could not be coaxed. 

29. Watching, waiting, mourning, the loving little 
bird-heart broke, and they laid it with tender hands 
and tearful eyes on the grave of him it had loved so 
well. N. Y. Observer. 

1 Aviary, a'v-i-ary, a place to keep birds in. 



Written Review. 291 

XXIV. SPELLING AND WRITING. 

BIRDS OF PREY — FLESH-EATERS— WITH HOOKED BILL AND SHARP 

TALONS : 



CLIMBERS : 



€LUC'CL^t. 



RUNNERS (WINGS NOT ADAPTED TO FLYING) : 
WADERS (LONG LEGS, NECK, AND BILL) : 



'440*1, (F.*) <&Zo4.& / (M.) ^^we, (F.M-) 

d/frtd, (M. ) d/^mi^-tao, (F.) ^yi^/ie. (M.) 






swimmers (web-footed) : 
j2?oode; ^u^A, ©S^^z^CM.) C/^^^^-^^^CF.M.) 



* Those marked (F.) are Fishers ; (M.) Migratory or Birds of Passage 



292 Catching Cattle with the Lasso. 




Catching- Cattle with the Lasso. 



XXV. ABOUT QUADRUPEDS. 




[ERE are two herdsmen riding rapidly 
after a herd of Cattle and throwing 
their lassoes. A lasso is a rope about 
half an inch thick, made of strips of leather, and 
about thirty feet long, with a slip-noose at one 
end that runs very easily. The other end is fast- 
ened securely to the front of the saddle. 

2. These men are so skillful in throwing the 
lasso that they can catch a bull by any one of 
his legs or by either horn. The horse is trained 



Uses of Cattle — The Buffalo. 293 

to stand still as soon as the lasso is thrown, with 
his fore feet well braced to meet the shock. 
Sometimes a bull thus caught by the horns in 
full career turns a complete somerset, and, 
falling heavily on his back, is so thoroughly 
jarred that he is disposed to be very submis- 
sive, and trots on quietly with the herd. 

3. Millions of cattle feed on the vast grassy plains of 
Texas, Mexico, and South America. Their value 
lies chiefly in their flesh, which is called beef; their hides, 
which are manufactured into leather - y and their tallow, 
which is used in making soap and candles. 

4. Cattle are numerous also in Russia, India, and 
our Western States and Territories. 

What does the cow give us ? What is made from 
milk ? What is the flesh of calves called ? Veal. 

5. Leather is made from the hides and skins of cattle, 
horses, goats, sheep, deer, and buffalo. Its manufacture 
is one of the most important industries in the United 
States and England. 

6. Here is a herd of Buffaloes, which are 
more properly called bisons. Indians are pursu- 
ing them. They are killed with guns, spears, 
bows and arrows. Their flesh is used for food. 

7. An Indian has been known to send an 
arrow with such force that its head has gone 
entirely through the body of a buffalo. The 
dressed skin of the buffalo is called a buffalo 
robe, and many of them are used in this coun- 
try in winter, when people go in sleighs over 
the snow. 



294 



The Buffalo — Its Uses. 




American Indians Hunting: Buffaloes on the Prairies. 

8. The Indians use buffalo skins for clothing 
and for tents, as well as for making a peculiar 
kind of shoe called a moc'casin. 

9. Buffaloes were formerly found as far east 
as the State of New York, but now none are 
found east of the Mississippi River, and 
they are constantly diminishing in numbers. 

10. The American Buffalo, or Bison, is also 
hunted by wolves. These join in a pack and try 
to cut off one of the buffaloes from the herd. 

11. The true buffalo has long horns, and resembles a 
cow. The buffalo, zebu, and yak, when tamed, work like 
the ox, or give milk like the cow. 



Yak — Zebu — Buffalo — Gnu. 295 




Blackboard drawing: of Yak and Zebu; 
inches in length. 



each about 6 feet 6 



12. The Yak is larger than common cattle. It has a 
bushy tail and long hair, from which tents and ropes 
are made. It is found in Thibet (tib'et) and other 
parts of Central Asia, both in the wild and the domestic 
state. 

13. The Zebu resembles an ox, except that it has a 
large hump on its back over its shoulders. Some are 
wild and some are domesticated in Asia, Africa and the 
islands of the Indian Ocean. Hindoos consider the Zebu 

1 sacred. 

14. The true Buffaloes 
inhabit Asia and Africa, 
where they run in herds and 
are fierce and strong. One 
is able to kill an elephant. 

15. The Gnu of South 
Africa has a body like that 
of a horse, and a head and 

Buffalo of the East ; length 10 ft. horns like those of an ox. 

16. Of all animals the Dog shows the greatest 
affection for his master, whose smile, or frown. 




296 Dog— Wolf — Fox — Jackal. 




Fox Chasing" a Babbit. 

or word, gives either pleasure or pain to this 
faithful companion of man. 

17. He is ever ready to risk his life for his master; and 
so constant is he, that when death has entered his master's 
home, this devoted creature has been known to grieve his 
life away on the newly made grave. 

r8. Especially useful and intelligent are the shepherd's 
dog, the Newfoundland dog, St. Bernard dog, the fleet 
greyhound, the keen-scented hunting dog, the courageous 
bull-dog, and the rat-killing terrier. 

19. Animals of the dog kind include the Wolf, which 
lives in a wild, savage state, and is always in search of 
plunder; the Fox, which is noted for its cunning, sly, 
and thieving disposition; and the Jackal, of Asia and 
Africa, which, like the wolf, hunts in bands or packs. 

20. There is an interesting animal found upon the 
prairies, called the Prairie Dog. These little animals 
burrow in the ground like rabbits, and live in communities 
so numerous that their "dog town," as it is called, some- 
times extends for miles. 

21. Another very common animal is the Cat. Of this 



Cat — L ion — Tiger — L copa rd, 297 



kind are the Wild Cat, Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Jagu-ar 
Puma, and Lynx. 

22. The Lion is called the "king of beasts," lives in 
Asia and Africa, and is noted for its powerful claws and 
great courage; the Tiger inhabits the jungle grass of 
Southern Asia, has a striped body and a fierce disposition, 
and does not hesitate to attack even the elephant or man ; 
the Leopard of Asia and Africa resembles the Tiger, except 
that its beautiful and valuable skin is spotted \ the Jaguar' 
or South American Tiger is spotted like the Leopard, and 
is strong enough to carry off a horse ; the Puma is called 
the American lion ; the Lynx resembles the cat. 

23. Animals of the dog and the cat kind are eaters of 
flesh, and are therefore called carnivorous. Animals which 
are tame and live in or near people's houses, are domestic 
animals ; others are wild. 

Is a dog a domestic, or wild animal ? A lion ? A 
tiger ? A cat ? A wolf ? A leopard ? 

The animal which most resembles man is 
the Gorilla. Its head and 
arms are longer than those 
of a man. Its mouth is 
very projecting. Some Go- 
rillas are nearly as tall as a 
man, but they are usually 
seen in a bent or crouching 
posture. The coarse hair 
which covers them is either 
gray or blackish. A full grown Gorilla is savage 
and powerful, being feared even by the lion. 
When about to attack an enemy, he stands up, 



24. 




Gorilla. 



298 Chimpanzee — Monkeys, Etc. 

beats his breast, and gives a loud and terrific 
roar. His food is vegetables, sugar-cane, ber- 
ries, and fruits. 

25. The Chimpanzee, the Baboon, Ape and 
Orang-outang are smaller than the Gorilla. 
The Gorilla and Chimpanzee have both been 
called " wild men of the woods." 

26. The common Monkey has a flat face 
and long tail ; it is a great mimic, quite 
ingenious and very mischievous. There are 
many varieties of monkeys. Some seem to be 
constantly chattering, crying, jumping and 
swinging, while others are grave and silent. In 
some parts of India a light-colored monkey is 
considered sacred by the natives. 

27. Monkeys in South America have a curious way of 
crossing a stream. One holds on to a limb of a tree, and 
to him a long line of monkeys will fasten themselves by 
means of their arms and tails. When the line is long 
enough, they will swing themselves until the one at the 
other end of the line will swing across to a tree on the 
opposite bank, and take hold of it ; then the first monkey 
lets go, and all swing across. 

28. The Gorilla and Chimpanzee are found in the for- 
ests of Western Africa : the Monkeys, Apes, etc., in the 
warm parts of Asia, Africa, South America, and on the 
islands southeast of Asia. 

29. The celebrated traveler Du Chaillu tells some very 
interesting stories about Gorillas, which he was the first to 
capture. 



A Gorilla Hunt. 299 

30. Here is one : " One day, I remember well, we were 
out for Gorillas, which we knew were to be found there- 
abouts by the presence of a certain kind of fruit of which 
the animal is fond. 

" We beat the bush for two hours, when suddenly an 
immense Gorilla advanced out of the wood straight toward 
us, and gave vent, as he came up, to a terrible howl of 
rage, as much as to say, ' I am tired of being pursued, and 
will face you.' 

" It was a lone male, the kind which is always most 
ferocious. This fellow made the woods resound with his 
roar, which is really an awful sound, resembling very much 
the rolling and muttering of distant thunder. 

" He was about twenty yards or steps off when we first 
saw him. We at once gathered together, and stood in 
silence, gun in hand. 

"The Gorilla looked at us for a minute or so out of his 
evil grey eyes, then beat his breast with his gigantic arms 
— and what arms he had ! — then he gave another howl of 
defiance, and advanced upon us. How horrible he looked ! 
I shall never forget it. 

"Again he stopped, not more than fifteen steps or 
paces away. Again he advanced. Now he was not twelve 
yards off. I could see plainly his ferocious face. It was 
distorted with rage ; his huge teeth ground against each 
other, so that we could hear the sound ; the skin of his 
forehead was drawn forward and back rapidly, which made 
his hair move up and down, and gave a hideous expression 
to his face. Once more he gave out a roar which seemed 
to shake the woods like thunder. Looking us in the eyes 
and beating his broad breast, he advanced again. 

u ' Don't fire too soon/ said one of my hunters ; ' if you 
do not kill him, he will kill you,' As the Gorilla came up, 



3oo The Elephant. 

'Now!' shouted the hunter, and before the Gorilla could 
utter the roar for which he was opening his mouth, three 
musket balls were in his body. He fell dead almost with- 
out a struggle. 

"He was a monstrous beast, indeed, although not 
among the tallest. His height was five feet six inches. 
His arms had a spread of over seven feet. His chest 
measured fifty inches around. His arms seemed like 
immense bunches of muscles only ; and his legs and claw- 
like feet were well fitted for grabbing, climbing and 
holding. 

"The face of this Gorilla was intensely black. His 
body was covered with gray hair, except his chest, which 
was bare. While the animal approached us in his fierce 
way, walking on his hind legs and facing us, it really 
seemed to me to be a horrible likeness of a man." 

31. The Elephant is the largest, strongest, 
and heaviest quadruped, or four-footed animal. 
His body is covered with a very thick hide, 
without hair. His legs are thick and clumsy. 

32. He has a long trunk or nose, called a 
proboscis (pro-bos' sis), which can lift a large or 
a small object, even as small as a pin. 

33. His trunk is very powerful. It is his 
means of defence and offence ; with it this 
enormous creature conveys food and water to 
his mouth, which is just under it and at its base. 
He also draws water into his trunk, to wash 
himself with, which he does by blowing it out 
all over him. 




Elephant. 

34. His two long tusks of ivory project from 
the sides of his mouth ; with these he digs in 
the ground for the roots and vegetables which 
constitute his principal food. He is also fond 
of sugar-cane. 

35. The Elephant is brave and affectionate; 
he is also either grateful or 
revengeful, according as he 
is treated. He is fond of 
music. In India he has been 
taught to hunt the tiger, fight 
in battles, dance and perform 

Tiger Hunting. tricks even on a tight-rope. 
Some elephants live to be one hundred years old, 




302 Hippopotamus — Rhinoceros. 

36. Another very large animal, one that is 
much longer than the elephant, but not so high, 
is the Hip-po-pot'a-mus. 

3J. These animals are quite gentle, except 
when hungry ; but if you could see their huge 
jaws open a distance of two feet in width, 
showing teeth a foot in length, you would be 
horrified, especially when you would see the 
immense quantities of vegetable food they re- 
quire. 

38. The warm waters of the Nile and other rivers of 
Africa are much frequented by them ; and because they are 
able to live either on the land or in the water, they are 
said to be am-phib'i-ous. 

39. The Rhi-noc'e-ros is, like the hippo- 
potamus, a very large, slow, stupid, amphib- 
ious animal. It is 
distinguished by its 
short, thick legs, 
heavy body, and 
large, curved horn 
at the end of its 

Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus. snOUt Its hide is 

so hard, thick and folded that swords, spears, 
bullets, and the claws of the lion or the tiger 
have little or no effect. It is found in Africa, 
Asia, Java and Sumatra. The weight of a large 




- y 



Beaver — Muskrat. 303 

rhinoceros is about three tons ; of an elephant, 
five tons. 

40. The Beaver, also an amphibious animal, 
is remarkable for its activity, industry, and the 
wonderful instinct it possesses for building its 
house. 

41. You cannot imagine how this is done. They com- 
mence by cutting or rather gnawing down trees, their only 
instrument being their teeth. They cut in such a way 
that the trees shall fall precisely where they want them. 
They next float them to the spot where they intend to fix 
their dwelling, and construct a dam. They always select 
trees which are up stream, so that the logs may be floated 
down by the current. 

42. After the dam is completed, which is the common 
property of the beavers, they form into small societies and 
build their private residences ! They make them very 
strong, by a sort of mortar or mud, which they know well 
how to mix. They are therefore masons and carpenters 
at the same time. This work is all done at night. 

43. The beavers store bark for food in these houses, 
each apartment having its own storehouse. If danger 
comes to them, they sound the alarm with their tail, giving 
one to four blows. 

44. The beaver inhabits northern Asia and America. 
It lives on the bank of a stream, has webbed hind feet, 
and is an excellent swimmer and diver. It is a little 
larger than a cat. 

45. The fur of the beaver is very valuable. 

46. The Muskrat is something like the 
beaver in its size, form, habits and disposition, 



304 Squirrel— Ground Mole. 

for both animals live in companies in the win- 
ter, build houses for their families, and are 
hunted for their fur. 

47. The muskrat does not, however, lay up stores for 
the winter like the beaver, but simply makes a way under 
the snow by which it may go in and out for water and the 
roots upon which it feeds. 

48. There is a very small animal, the size of a big, fat 
mouse, which burrows and lives in the ground all the time. 
It is the Ground Mole. 

49. Unlike the beaver and the muskrat, it keeps always 
just under the surface of the ground : and, although it 
annoys farmers by raising long ridges in their fields and 
gardens, it does more good than harm in eating up worms 
and insects. 

50. There is another very industrious little 
animal, which is like the beaver in laying up 
food for the coming winter, in the shape of nuts 
and acorns. Do any of you know its name? 
Yes, it is the Squirrel. It makes a funny 
appearance as it eats, using its paws for hands, 
and sitting up as you do at the dinner-table. 

51. Squirrels are found in almost every country in the 
world; and sometimes they will migrate by thousands. 
(Migrate means to seek a new home). 

52. It is said that neither rocks nor rivers nor forests 
nor mountains will stop them ; and that if they find a river 
too wide for them to cross, they will go back into the 
forest and provide themselves each with a piece of bark, 




Squirrel. 

and then they put out to sea, making their tails serve as 
sail and rudder. 

53. It often happens, however, that they have ventured 
too far, and cannot contend against the waves, and there- 
fore never reach the other side. The Laplanders watch 
for these misfortunes and seize them as a prize, not only 
because they can sell their skins, but for their flesh, which 
is good for food. 

54. The Flying Squirrel is provided with a strip of 
skin which it spreads out to enable it to sail or glide easily 
from a high to a low place among the trees. It cannot 
use this wing-like skin as birds do. It seldom ventures 
out till after sunset. 

Besides the beaver, muskrat and squirrel, can you men- 
tion some other and better known little animals which are 
remarkable for gnawing ? Rats and mice. 

55. The Porcupine which is about eighteen or twenty 
inches in length, also prefers the night for its movements. 



Porcupine — Camel. 




Blackboard Drawing- : Porcupine, 20 inches long- ; Flying- Squir- 
rel, 15 inches long. 

It is very active in searching for food, which consists of 
roots, fruit and bark. It is remarkable for being covered 
with sharp, strong quills, which it has the power of 
straightening out in all directions, when attacked, thus 
causing great damage to the mouth of any animal bold 
enough to take hold of it. 

56. The Camel is the best fitted of all ani- 
mals for traveling in desert places, because, 
first, it can take a week's supply of water in 
a peculiar arrangement of cells connected with 
the stomach, which can be supplied from them 
when the animal is thirsty ; secondly, it can live 
on the scanty herbage of the desert; thirdly, 
under each foot is a large cushion-shaped sub- 
stance to prevent it from sinking in the sand. 

57. The camel has been called the "ship of the desert." 
On the approach of a sand-storm in the desert, when 
clouds of fine sand are whirled about by high winds, the 
camel displays great sagacity in burying his nose in the 
sand to avoid suffocation. Its flesh and milk are used for 



Camel — Llama. 



30/ 




Arab Family Moving-. 

food, its skin for making leather, and its hair for making 
clothing • therefore the camel is to the Arab what the seal 
is to the Esquimaux, and the reindeer to the Laplanders — 
their chief wealth. 

58. Some camels have one hump (the Dromedary or 
Arabian Camel), and others two (the Bactrian Camel of 
China and Central Asia . The former is the one chiefly 

, used in Africa. The latter is larger and is used more as 
a beast of burden. 

59. A similar but much smaller animal is the Llama, 
found in the warm parts of South America. 



3 o8 



Giraffe — Horse — Zebra. 



60. The tallest animal in the 
world is the Giraffe (ji-raf) or 
Ca-mel'o-pard, which belongs to 
the deserts of Africa. 

61. It is especially remarkable 
for the great length of its neck and 
legs. In the absence of grass, this 
animal can make its food of the 
leaves of the trees. Its height is 
about eighteen feet. 

62. There is a beautiful animal 
in Southern Africa which is about 
the size and shape of a pony, but 
has black and yellow stripes run- 
ning around its body and legs. 
What is its name ? The Zebra. 
Zebras run wild in herds and are 
very difficult to tame. 

63. The most useful animal to 
man is the Horse, which is found 

in almost every country in the world where 
work is to be done. Arabia has long been cel- 
ebrated for fine horses. The Arab loves and 
treats his horses as if they were his children. 



Giraffe. 



64. There is an animal of the horse kind which is said,, 
to be the most obstinate and yet the most patient of all 
animals ; what is it ? The Donkey will, however, do 
more work for the smallest pay than any other animal. 



Tapir — Sloth. 



309 



except, perhaps, the camel. Although much smaller than 
a horse, he will take you on long journeys and over 
dangerous places, and be content with a little grass or even 
a few weeds, Donkeys are very useful to the poor people 

of Africa, Asia and Europe. 

65. The Tapir of South 
America is all black or dark 
brown, and looks like a big 
fat hog \ and, like the hog, it 
delights in wallowing in the 
mud. It has a short probos- 
cis or trunk. Its height is 
between three and four feet ; 
but the tapir of Asia is larger 
and has a w r hite back. 

66. Of all animals the 

slowest and laziest is 
said to be the Sloth, 

which lives in South and 

Central America. 

67. While some animals 
and people too are idle from 
choice, this poor creature is 
almost helpless ; the slightest 
movement seems to give it 

great pain, judging from the piteous cry it sets up. It is 
therefore to be pitied, not blamed. To take fifty steps 
would require a whole day. The sloth is about the size 
of a large cat. Its hair is coarse, its arms very long, and 
legs short, and it is always found hanging under a branch 
of a tree, even when asleep. It makes its food of leaves, 
fruit, and bark. Some sloths have two toes or claws and 




Tapir, length, 5 feet ; Sloth, 
length, 18 inches. 



Opossum — A rmadillo. 






Blackboard Drawing: 



Opossum and her Family, 
body, 20 inches. 



Length of 



others three on each arm and leg. They seldom touch 
the ground unless they tumble. 

68. Another very curious little animal found in South 
America is the Armadillo; it wears a kind of coat of 
mail or hard, horn-like case, into which it can retreat as 
the snail or the turtle does when it is attacked. In form, 
head, and tail, it resembles a very big rat, but it is as long 
as a cat. With its sharp claws, it burrows in the earth for 
worms and roots. Its flesh is used for food. 

69. There is another animal which resembles a rat and 
is as big as a cat, and that is the Opossum, which lives 
in North and South America. It usually hides away in 
the daytime in hollow trees or in the ground, and steals 
out at night in search of food — berries, fruit, eggs, birds, 
etc.; sometimes, too, killing chickens to suck their blood. 
It is very sly ; when caught, it will make believe dead and 
cunningly watch its opportunity to escape ; this is the 
origin of the expression " playing 'possum." This animal 
can cling tightly to the branch of a tree by means of its 
long, strong tail, which it winds around it when it wants 
to gather fruit or to seize a little bird for its supper ; but 



Kangaroo — White Bear. 



3" 



one of the funniest sights is that of a mother-opossum 
running off with all her young ones on her back holding 
on by their tails, as shown in the blackboard drawing. 

70. The animal which is remarkable for leap- 
ing or springing is 
the Kangaroo, of 
Australia. 



71. Its fore-legs are 
short and like arms, while 
its lower limbs are very 
long and strong, thus en- 
abling it to take leaps or 
bounds, upwards of twenty 
feet in length. Its head 
resembles that of a deer. 
Its tail is so powerful that 
a blow from it has been 
known to break the legs of 
a man. 

72. When sitting, a full- 
grown kangaroo is as tall 
as a man. It is hunted 
for its skin and flesh. A s^aroo. 

73. Like some opossums, it has a pouch or pocket into 
which its young take refuge when alarmed. 

74. A bear is more at home in a cold coun- 
try and more comfortable in cold weather. The 
White or Polar Bear lives among icebergs 
and feeds chiefly on fishes and seals. 

7J5. White bears are fierce and strong; and 




312 



The White or Polar Bear. 




Esquimaux with their dog's, capturing a White Bear for his fur 
and flesh. Near the Icebergs are Walruses, which are hunted 
for their flesh, oil, skin, and tusks of ivory. 

like all other bears, have powerful paws and 
long, sharp claws with which they soon tear 
another animal or a man to pieces. Savage 
and dangerous as they are, the Esquimaux of 
the Arctic Regions hunt and capture them 
with dogs and sharp spears. 

76. The flesh of these animals is used for 
food, but their chief value lies in the long 
white furs. Perhaps some of you have seen 
such skins or robes in sleighs. 



Black Bear — Grizzly Bear. 313 

jj. The common Black Bear of North 
America and the Browx Bear of Europe are 
very much alike. They prefer the mountain 
districts. They are not so large nor so fierce 
as some other bears, but when attacked, they 
rise upon their hind feet and, if not promptly 
dispatched with the long knife or the bullet, 
the assailant is at once hugged to death with 
their powerful arms or torn to shreds by their 
sharp claws. 

78. Their food consists of flesh, wheat, corn, roots and 
vegetables ; they are very fond of honey, often climbing 
high trees in search of it. 

79. The Cinnamon Bear of Colorado and the region 
west of it, is named on account of its color, which is a 
yellowish red. 

80. The most savage of all is the Grizzly 
Bear, whose home is in the Rocky Moun- 
tains. Grizzly means somewhat gray. 

81. Its strength and endurance are very great, 
for it has been known to kill and earn' off a 
buffalo, to chase a man for long distances, 
capture and devour him. When overtaken 
by hunters, and after receiving several of their 
bullets, it makes desperate efforts to escape by 
running and swimming. 

82. In winter, some bears hide themselves in caves, 



Wolf. Bear. Am. Buffalo or Bison, 

Blackboard drawing 1 of "Wolf's head, 10 inches long: ; of Bear 1 3 
head, 15 inches; of Buffalo's head, 24 inches. (Full size.) 

hollow logs, and holes in the ice or snow, and pass several 
weeks in a kind of sleep. 

83. The affection of bears for their young is very 
remarkable. When one of her cubs is shot, the grief and 
cries of the mother, her frantic efforts to arouse it, and 
her refusal to leave it even when the bullets are whistling 
past, show her anxiety for her cub to be far greater than 
that for herself. 

84. Deer are found in all parts of the world, 

— in cold, hot, and 
temperate regions ; 
in forest, jungle, 
swamp and prairie, 
— except in Aus- 
tralia. 

85. Deer are very 
timid. Whenever 

Buffalo (bison) and Deer. they discover an 

enemy they are off with the speed of a race- 
horse. 




Reindeer. 3 r 5 



__^^^^ A 


4 


^ , ^ 


^— 'TV 



Blackboard drawing* of a Reindeer (length 7 feet), and Sledg-e 
of a Laplander. 

86. Like the buffaloes, they are hunted for their flesh, 
skins, and horns, but often only for sport. 

87. The most useful of these animals is the 
Reindeer, which is a domestic animal in parts 
of the Arctic regions, and constitutes the chief 
wealth of the Laplander of Northern Europe. 
His herds supply him with milk, flesh and 
materials for clothing, and some of these ani- 
mals are trained to drag his sledge swiftly and 
for long distances over the frozen snow. 

88. In summer the reindeer lives on the scanty herbage 
and shrubs of those regions, and in winter, on the mosses 
which lie under the deep snow. These mosses are dis- 
covered by his sharp scent, and he is able to dig down to 
them through the snow, by means of his great branching 
horns. Some reindeer are wild and live in large herds. 

89. Herd is a number of animals assembled together, 
as a herd of cattle, oxen, horses, camels, deer, elephants, 
or swine ; flock refers chiefly to smaller animals and birds, 



3 1 6 Deer — Hyena. 

as sheep, goats, or pigeons; drove is a number of cattle 
driven to market. 

90. Deer and some other animals chew the cud ; that 
is, when grazing, they only partly chew the food before 
swallowing it, and, when they afterwards lie down or stand 
still, they bring up the same food into their mouths again 
to chew and swallow it a second time. Such animals are 
called Ruminating or Cud-chewing animals. They gen- 
erally have horns and cloven or divided hoofs. They 
include the cow, ox, deer, camel, giraffe, goat, sheep and 
buffalo. 

91. Animals of the deer-kind include the Antelope and 
Gazelle of Africa and Arabia, the Chamois (sham' me or 
sham-moi') of the Alps, and the Moose of North America. 

92. The Hyena is a savage and untamable animal of 
Africa and the warm parts of Asia. It looks like a very 
large dog. Its teeth are wonderfully strong. It eats the 
flesh and bones of dead animals. 



XXVI. SPELLING AND WRITING. 

animals which most resemble man: 

animals of the monkey kind (four-handed instead of 
four-footed) : 






Gefa-e, &J€i'fc-(i<a<n.. ^^Q-a^n^^t-o-'H' 



Review — Spelling — J J > t ting. 3 1 7 



ANIMALS OF THE DOG-KIND : 






<L<Z>, ^ w*,. 



THE CAT-KIND: 
EATERS OF FLESH : 

^'jtr: 3 .'ticcemi, tTjQnf&ntZj L^/id-J-::: ;* > . vrr/ 

EATERS OF GRASS, AND CUD-CHEWERS, WITH HORNS AND CLOVEN 
hoofs (two TOES): 

GNAWERS : 

ANIMALS WITH FOUR SOLID HOOFS : 

AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS : 
The Frog, Toad, Alligator and Crocodile (reptiles) are also amphibious. 




318 Adventure with Wolves. 



XXVII. ADVENTURE WITH WOLVES. 

||N the month of March, when the snow lay 
deep upon the ground, Lawrence Temple, 
a clerk at a lumber camp on the head- 
waters of the Ottawa River in Canada, was dis- 
patched to Ottawa city, a distance of some two 
hundred miles, to report to the agent of the com- 
pany the quantity of timber that had been got out, 
and to bring back a sum of money to pay off a num- 
ber of the lumbermen. 

2. Several of these were about to take up land in 
the new townships which had been recently laid out 
on the upper Ottawa ; and as Lawrence had won 
the confidence of the company, he was commissioned 
to bring back the money required for making the 
payments. He was to ride as far as the town of 
Pembroke, about half way, and leaving his horse 
there to rest, was to go on to Ottawa in the stage. 
He selected for the journey the best animal in the 
stable — a tall, sinewy horse of rather ungainly figure, 
but with an immense amount of endurance and pluck. 

3. He reached Ottawa safely, and transacted his 
business satisfactorily. Having drawn the money 
from the bank, chiefly in English sovereigns and 
Mexican dollars, LawTence set out on his return 
journey. 

4. At Pembroke, he mounted again his faithful 
steed for his ride of over a hundred miles to the 
camp. The silver he carried in two leathern bags 



Returning to the Camp. 319 

in the holster of the saddle, and the gold in a belt 
around his waist. He also carried for defence one 
of the newly-invented Colt's revolvers. 

5. Toward the close of the second day, he was 
approaching the end of his journey, and indulging 
in a pleasant anticipation of the feast of venison he 
should enjoy, and of the refreshing slumber on the 
fragrant pine-boughs, earned by continued exercise 
in the open air. The moon was near the full, but 
partially obscured by fleecy clouds. 

6. As he came to a slight clearing in the woods, 
he observed two long, lithe animals spring out of 
the woods toward his horse. He thought they were 
a couple of those large, shaggy deer-hounds which 
are sometimes employed near the lumber camps for 
hunting cariboo, and looked around for the huntej*, 
who, he thought, could not be far off. 

7. He was surprised, however, not to hear the 
deep-mouthed bark characteristic of these hounds, 
but instead a guttural snarl, which appeared to affect 
the horse in a most unaccountable manner. A shiver 
seemed to convulse his frame, and shaking himself 
he started off on a long, swinging trot, which soon 
broke into a gallop. 

8. But his best speed could not outstrip that of 
the creatures which bounded in long leaps by his 
side, occasionally springing at him, their white teeth 
glistening in the moonlight, and snapping when they 
closed like a steel-trap. When he caught the fiery 
flashing of their eyes, there came the blood-curdling 
revelation that these were no hounds, but hungry 
wolves, that bore him such sinister company. 



320 Encounter with the Wolves. 

9. His only safety, he knew, was in the speed of 
his horse ; and he was handicapped in this race for 
life with about five-and-twenty pounds of silver in 
each holster. 

10. Seeing that the horse was flagging under this 
tremendous pace, he resolved to abandon the money, 
so he dropped both bags on the road. To his sur- 
prise the animals stopped. He could hear them 
snarling over the stout, leather bags ; but, lightened 
of his load, the horse sprang forward on a splendid 
gallop. 

11. He was beginning to hope that he had fairly 
distanced the brutes, when their horrid yelp and 
melancholy, long-drawn howl grew stronger on the 
wind ; and soon they were again abreast of the horse. 

* 12. He now threw down his thick, leather gaunt- 
lets, with the hope of delaying them ; but it only 
caused a detention of a few minutes while they 
greedily devoured them. 

13. He was rapidly nearing the camp ; if he could 
keep them at bay for twenty or thirty minutes more, 
he would be safe. As a last resort, he drew his 
revolver, scarcely hoping, in his headlong pace, to hit 
the bounding, leaping objects at his side. The horse, 
too, was exceedingly nervous; and if he should miss, 
and in the movement be dismounted, he knew that 
the maw of those ravenous beasts would be his grave. 

14. One of the brutes now made a spring for the 
horse's throat, but failing to grasp it, fell on the 
right side of the animal. Gathering himself up, he 
bounded in front, and made a dash at the rider, 
catching and clinging to the horse's right shoulder, 



Safe Arrival in Camp. 321 

15. Lawrence could feel his hot breath on his 
naked hand. The fiendish glare of those eyes he 
never forgot. He felt that the supreme moment had 
come. One or other of them must die. In five 
minutes more he would be safe in camp, or else — 
and he shuddered. 

16. He lifted up his heart in prayer to God, and 
then felt strangely calm and collected. 

17. The muzzle of his revolver almost touched 
the brute's nose. He pulled the trigger. A flash, 
a crash ! the green eyes blazed with tenfold fury ; 
the huge form fell heavily to the ground, and in the 
same moment the horse reared almost upright, nearly 
unseating his rider and shaking the pistol from his 
hand, and then, plunging forward, rapidly covered 
the road in his flight. 

18. As Lawrence had expected, the other famishing 
beast remained to devour its fellow. He galloped 
into the camp, almost fell from his saddle, and stag- 
gered to the rude, log shanty, where the blazing fire 
and song and story beguiled the winter night, scarcely 
able to narrate his peril and escape. 

19. After light refreshments, — for he had lost all 
relish for food, — he went to bed, to start up often 
through the night under the glare of those horrible 
eyes, and to renew the horror he had undergone. 

20. In the morning, returning with a number of 
the men to look for the money, he found the remains 
of the slain wolf, and some distance back, the straps 
and buckles of the money-bags, and the silver coins 
scattered on the ground, and partially covered by 
the snow. 



322 The Blind Man and his Dog. 



XXVIII. THE BLIND MAN'S DOG. 







the 



About 
Christmas 
time after 
several 
hours of 
hard work 
I found 
on going 
out that 
the weath- 
er had be- 
come bit- 
terly cold. 

2. Run- 

The Blind Man and his Dogr. 

ning along 
poorly-lighted road, leading to the city of Lon- 



The Blind Man and his Dog. 323 

don, I nearly stumbled against a man standing at 
the corner of the street ; luckily, the glitter of metal 
on his cap caught my eye, and looking at this I saw 
that it was a brass plate with the word " Blind " 
engraved on it. 

He had w r ith him a little dog which kept at his side, 
eagerly watching him ; the dog was in the roadway 
while his master kept tapping the edge of the pave- 
ment with his stick and intently listening for the 
sound of wheels. 

4. At last the man said " Go ; " and in an instant 
the little dog ran across the road, barking, as much 
as to say, Come on. 

5. I was pleased to see that the two arrived quite 
safe at the other side. I at once entered into con- 
versation with the blind man. I will now give you 
his history as he told it to me : — 

6. " My name is James Stocks. I am seventy- 
eight years of age. I have been blind three years 
next April. My dog is as good to me as a pair of 
eyes. I call her ' Puss/ She is two years and a 
half old, and I gave two shillings for her to a stran- 
ger. A blind man told the stranger to bring her to 
me, as he knew I wanted a ' guide-dog. J I had to 
train her myself. I took her to the safest place I 
knew, that is, by the side of a long. wall. 

7. " At first she would only lag behind me, but I 
took her out for half an hour every day, and in two 
or three weeks she learned to lead me quite well. It 
took me longer to trust to the dog than it did for 
the dog to learn to lead me along, and now I can go 
anywhere with her. 



324 The Blind Man and his Dog. 

8. " She knows her way as well as I do, and I 
have never been run over since I have had my Puss. 
I feed her on meat, and I give her an extra half- 
pennyworth whenever I can afford it. I cannot 
afford anything better for her, but she will eat cakes, 
and almost anything that the children give her in 
the streets. She has had several pieces of plum- 
pudding given to her this Christmas time. 

9. " I come out with her every morning from 
twelve to three, and at night from six to ten, and I 
stand here selling lead-pencils, and sometimes the 
people give me a few half-pence. 

10. "When it's very cold I carry a little chair in 
a bag at my back, for Puss to sit down upon to keep 
her off the cold, wet ground. I also tie a little bit 
of carpet on her, as I feel a great deal for my little 
dog. I always carry a little water for her in a bottle 
in my pocket ; I give it to her in a penny tin-mug, 
and, bless you, the little dog knows her bottle and 
tin-mug when I draw them out of my pocket. 

11. " As I stand at my post, Puss sits by my side 
as quietly as possible ; but when she sees any one 
looking at me she stands up on her hind legs, wags 
her tail, and asks for something for me. I can't keep 
her down ; just you try her now, sir, and see if she 
will do it." 

12. So I rose, and went toward the blind man. 
In an instant, Puss, which had been curled up at her 
master's feet, was upon her hind legs begging for 
him, while every now and then she gave a sharp 
yap, as much as to say, " Do give us something ; we 
are both very poor." Buckland's Log- Book. 



A nimals and Birds of South A merica. 325 



Homes and Comparative Size of Animals, etc. : Those shown on 
this and the seven pages following are drawn on a scale of about five feet 
to the inch which appears on the margin. 

The Ta'pir 

of South 
America is 
black and re- 
sembles a hog. 
(P. 309.) 

The Llama 
(latimali) in- 
habits the An- 
des (P. 307.) 
TheCond'or 
also inhabits 
the Andes. 
(P. 250.) 

The Arma- 
dillo is pro- 
tected by a 
kind of shell. 
(P. 310.) 

The Ant- 
eater is re- 
markable for 
its long, slen- 
der tongue 
and bushy tail. 

The Rhea 
is called the 
American os- 
trich. (P. 259.) 

Penquins are birds of the Antarctic coasts. (P. 265.) 




326 Animals, etc., of South America. 





#^ 



It is about 



T h e 
Cougar 

(koo'gar) 

and the 

Jaguar', which is larger, 

destroy and devour cattle, 

horses, etc. They belong to 

the cat family. (P. 297.) 

The Sloth is usually seen — 
hanging under a branch. It is slower 
in its movements than any other animal 
the size of a cat. (P. 309.) 

The Opossum is noted for its shyness. It steals 
chickens, birds, eggs, etc., at night, for food. (P. 310.) 
The Toucan (too'kan) has an enormous bill which 
is well adapted to eating fruit. (P. 256.) 

Monkeys inhabit the warm countries all over the 
world. In South America, they are remarkable for 
their power of hanging and swing- 
ing by their tails. (P. 298.) 
The Anaconda is remarkable 
for its power 
of killing and 
swallowing 
deer, mon- 
keys, etc. 




Animals of Europe. 



327 



The Fox and 
Wolf belong to 
the dog family. 
The Wolf is 
arger, and, 
when hungry, very 
dangerous. It 
hunts man and 
horse f o r many 
miles and attacks them 
very savagely. (P. 318.) 
The Brown Bear is 
noted for passing the 
winter in a cave or hol- 
low tree in a kind of sleep, taking 
during all that time neither food nor 
drink. It is found in the forests and mountains of 
both Europe and Asia. (See p. 313.) 

The Tbex has long horns and resembles a goat. 
The Chamois {sham 'my), which is smaller than the 
Ibex, also resembles a goat, but has small horns. 




It is hunted among the Alps of Switzerland. 
skin is made into a soft kind of leather. 

The Wild Boar is remarkable for its great 
tusks or teeth, and when hunted becomes 
very savage and dangerous. 

The Lam'mergeyer, a kind of vulture, 
inhabits especially the Alps and Pyrenees, 
where it is very destructive to sheep, cham- 
ois, etc., which it captures or destroys by 
causing them to leap over precipices ; then 
it gorges itself with their flesh. 



Its 




3*8 



Comparative Size of 




The Sable (i), White Ermine (2) 
Wolverine (3), 
and Arctic Fox 
(4) inhabit the 
Arctic regions, 
and are valuable 
for their fur. 
Eider Ducks (5) 
(i'der) are valua- 
ble for their soft 
down ; and the Musk Deer (6) 
for their fragrant musk. 
The Bactrian Camel, (7) which has two humps, is 
found chiefly in Asia ; it is used as a beast of burden. 
(See pages 306 and 307.) 

The Jack'al (8) is 
wild, and resembles 
a small wolf or dog # 
(See p. 296. 

The Wild Boar. 
(9.) (See p. 336.) 

The Peli- 
can (10) in- 
habits warm 
countries and 
lives on fish. 
(See p. 262.) 

The Yak 
(11) is found 
in the central 
parts of Asia. 
(See p. 295.) 




Animals of Asia. 



329 




The Ele- 
phant and 
Tiger are 
natural ene- 
mies, and 
fierce b a t - 
ties are oft- 
en fought by 
them. Tame 
el eph ant s 
belong to 
Southern Asia. (P. 300.) 

The Ourang-Outang is 
found in Southern Asia and neigl 
boring islands. (P. 298.) 

The Leopard is found in Asia and Africa. Like 
the panther and jaguar, it is spotted, and belongs to 
the cat family. (P. 297.) 

The Co'bra de Capel'lo is a small but very poison- 
ous snake. The largest 
serpent in the world is 
the python, which 
is about thirty feet 
long. 

The Eastern Buf- 
falo, which is very un- 
like the American, is 
easily tamed and made 
useful. (Pp. 294, 295.) 

The Zebu is distin- 
guished by a hump 
over the shoulders. 




33° 



Comparative Size of 



The Crocodile of the 

Nile is much larger than the 
alligator of America. Its 
length is twenty to twen- 
ty-five feet. It feeds 
chiefly on fish, but it 
does not hesitate to 
attack and devour a 
man who might ven 









A^ ; 




Us 


m. . 


rSg 




Et«3wS^" \: w;/-^;>^' 




ture too near. It 
lays its eggs on 
the shore near the 
water as a turtle 
does. Crocodiles 
and alligators are found only in the waters of warm 
countries. 

The Arabian Camel is very useful in Asia and 
Africa, where it is called " The Ship of the Desert." 
The Koo'doo, or African antelope, has long, cu- 
riously twisted horns. The Hyena is a savage ani- 
mal of Africa and Asia. 



■&&$ 


L £w<\. '^^i^i 


_ *^SS| 








Arabian Camel. (P. 306.) 



Koodoo. 



Hyena. 



Animals of Africa. 

w 



53* 




The Gnu (or gnoo, nu) a kind of antelope, some- 
what resembles a horse, except that it has horns. 
These animals live in herds in South Africa, and 
often associate with zebras, (p. 308,) giraffes, and 
ostriches, (p. 258,) forming a large army of wild 
creatures. (P. 295.) 

The Puff Adder, also of South Africa, is one of 
the most deadly of poisonous snakes, even horses 
dying a few hours after they are bitten. The natives 
procure poison from its teeth, and touch the heads 
of their fearful arrows with it. 

The Red Flamingo is remarkable for the length 
of its neck and legs. Its color is mostly of a bril- 
liant scarlet, (p. 263.) 

The Sacred I'bis is mostly 
white with some black feath- 
ers. It is found in Egypt, 
where like the crocodile and 
some other creatures, it has 
been held sacred. It is not so 
large as the flamingo. (P. 262.) 




33^ 



Animals of Africa. 



The Comparative size of animals may be seen on this and the 
seven preceding pages, because they 
are all accurately drawn according to 
the same scale — about five feet to the 
inch. — This scale may be found on the 
margin of this page, and the length, 
height, etc., of any animal, bird, or 
reptile here shown may, therefore, be 
known at a glance ; as, this gorilla is 
about 5 feet high. What is the height 
of the lion ? Elephant ? Rhino- 
ceros ? What 
is the length 
of t h e lion ? 
Rhinoceros ? 
Hippopota 
mus? 




Elephants Piling Timber. 333 



XXXIII. THE ELEPHANT. 




N the timber-yards of Birmah, which are 
large and numerous, the usefulness of the 
elephant is most wonderfully illustrated ; 
for these uncouth monsters are employed in drawing, 
stacking, and shifting the immense teak 1 logs — some 
of them weighing as much as two tons. A log that 
forty men could scarcely move, the elephant will 
quietly lift upon his tusks, and holding it there with 
his proboscis, will carry it to whatever part of the 
yard he may be directed by his driver. 

2. They will also, using trunk, feet, and tusks, 
pile the huge timbers as evenly and correctly as one 
could wish. What surprised us the most was to see 
the elephants select and pick out particular timbers 
from the center of an indiscriminate heap of more 
than a hundred simply at the command of the 
driver. 

m 

3. The huge beasts are directed by the drivers, by 
spoken orders, pressure of the feet on the neck, and 
the customary use of the elephant goad. 2 

4. The elephant knows his own power, and gener- 
ally refuses to lift more than his tusks can safely 
bear, for if these should be broken off close to the 
head death would ensue. 3 

1 Teak, teek, timber used in shipbuilding. 

2 Goad, gdde, a pointed instrument. 

3 Ensue, en-sit ', not soo, follow. 



334 The White Elephant Reverenced. 

5. Perhaps it may be well to state why the white 
elephant is so specially reverenced. 1 It is believed 
that Buddha 2 is the divine emanation from the 
Deity, 3 and must necessarily abide for some time in 
that grand incarnation i of purity ^which is repre- 
sented by the white elephant ; that there is no spot 
in the heavens above, or the earth below, or the 
waters under the earth which is not visited by 
Buddha ; that his tarrying may be longer in the 
white elephant than in any other abode ; and that 
in the possession of the sacred creature they may 
possess the presence of Buddha himself. The so- 
called white elephant is not white. It is of a dull 
brownish-yellow color — white only by contrast with 
his darker brother. 

6. Siamese are known to whisper their secrets into 
an elephant's ear, and to ask a solution of their per- 
plexities by some sign or movement. 

1 Reverenced, rev'er-ensd, to regard with fear, respect, and affec- 
tion. 

2 Buddha, bood'da, a heathen god, worshipped in India and China. 

3 The Deity, de'i-te, the Supreme Being or God. False deities 
are numerous in Asia and Africa. 

4 Incarnation, in-kar-ua'shiin, a body of flesh. 

Buddhism is a false religion of Southeastern Asia, founded many centuries 
ago by Buddha, who is now worshipped there. A recent traveler in Siam 
(Frank Vincent) thus describes one of their temples and images, " After a long 
ride, we reached a cavern in the side of a hill, styled the l Cave of Idols,' con- 
sisting of several chambers connected by narrow passages, all requiring to 
be illuminated by torches. Its sides within were lined with rows of gilt Bud- 
dhas, and at the end of one of the halls is a huge reclining image. The trees 
about the mouth of the cave were filled with chattering and grinning monkeys. 
At sight of us they scampered from branch to branch and from tree to tree, and 
then would sit still and steadily observe us in a most amusing manner for an 
entire minute at a time. We inspected a colossal reclining image built of 
brick and mortar and covered with thick gold leaf ; it was clothed with yellow 
garments. The length is 135 feet— its feet being seven feet in width, and its 
ears ten feet in length. 



The Pomp of White Elephants. 335 

7. The last " white elephant " which reached Bang- 
kok, the capital of Siam, was caught in the woods. 
When the king heard of it, he and his court went a 
long way into the country to meet him, and he was 
conducted with a grand procession, much pomp and 
music, and flying banners to the capital. There a 
grand mansion awaited him, and several of the lead- 
ing nobility were appointed his custodians. The 
walls were painted to represent forests, no doubt to 
remind him of his native haunts, and to console him 
in his absence from them. All his w 7 ants were sedu- 
lously provided for, and in his "walks abroad" he 
was escorted by music and caparisoned by costly 
vestments. His grandest promenades were to bathe 
in the river, when other elephants were in attend- 
ance, honored by being made aids to his grandeur. 

8. Now and then the two sovereigns sought his 
presence, but I did not learn that his dignity con- 
descended to oblige them with any special notice. 
Everything associated with majesty and rank bore 
his image. A white elephant is the badge of dis- 
tinction, On the royal flags and seals, metals and 
coins — everywhere the white elephant is the national 
emblem. 

9. Thus it will be seen that in Siam and Birmah 
the "white elephant " is a grave and important 
appendage of state, and that the sovereign of each 
claims the coveted and pompous titles of " Lord of 
the Celestial Elephant," and " Master of Many 
White Elephants." 

From Vincent's "Land of the White Elephant." 



336 A Wild Boar Hunt. 



XXXIV. ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 




MERGING again into the broad sunlight, I 
strolled further in search of something to 
shoot. Presently, I saw, feeding quietly in 
the forest which bounded a valley on the left, a huge, 
reddish-colored wild boar, armed with most horrid 
tusks. Leaving Kalulu, my attendant, crouched 
down behind a tree, and my solar helmet behind 
another close by, that I might more safely stalk the 
animal, I advanced toward him, and after taking a 
deliberate aim fired. 

2. As if nothing whatever had hurt him, the ani- 
mal made a furious bound, and then stood with his 
bristles erected and his tufted tail curved over the 
back — a most formidable brute in appearance. 

3. While he was thus listening and searching the 
neighborhood with his keen, small eyes, I planted 
another shot in his chest. Instead of falling, how- 
ever, as I expected, he charged furiously in the di- 
rection the bullet had come, and as he rushed past 
me, another ball was fired, which went right through 
him ; but still he kept on, until, within six or seven 
yards from the trees behind which Kalulu was 
crouching, he suddenly halted, and then dropped. 

4. As I was about to advance on him with my 
knife, he suddenly started up ; his eyes had caught 
sight of the little boy Kalulu, and were then almost 
immediately afterward attracted by the sight of the 
snowy helmet. 



A Lion Hunt. $$7 

5. These strange objects proved too much for the 
boar, for, with a terrible grunt, he darted into a thick 
brake from which it was impossible to oust him ; and 
as it was getting late, and the camp was about three 
miles away, I was reluctantly obliged to return with- 
out the meat. 

6. On our way to camp we were accompanied by 
a large animal which persistently followed us on our 
left. It was too dark to see plainly, but a large 
form was visible. Late that night, we were startled 
by the roar of a lion, in close proximity to the camp. 

Henry M. Stanley. 



««.«♦■.»» 



XXXV. A LION HUNT. 




OON after breakfast I took Khamisi and 
Kalulu with me for a hunt. After a long 
walk we arrived near a thin jungle, where I 
discovered the tracks of several animals — boar, ante- 
lope, elephant, rhinoc'eros, hippopotamus, and an 
unusual number of imprints of the lion's paw. 

2. Suddenly I heard Khamisi say, " Master, mas- 
ter! here is a 'simta' (lion) ; " and he came up to 
me trembling with excitement and fear, to point out 
the head of a beast, which could be seen just above 
the tall grass, looking steadily at us. 

3. It immediately afterward bounded from side 
to side, but the grass was so high that it was impos- 
sible to tell exactly what it vyas. 



338 The Kangaroo. 

4. Taking advantage of a tree in my front, I crept 
quietly onward, intending to rest the heavy rifle 
against it, as I was very weak from the effects of sev- 
eral fevers. 

5. But my surprise was great when I cautiously 
laid it against the tree, and then directed its muzzle 
to the spot where I had seen him stand. 

6. Looking further away, I saw the animal bound 
along at a great rate, and that it was a lion ; the noble 
monarch of the forest was in full flight ! From that 
moment I ceased to regard him as the " mightiest 
among the brutes." Henry M. Stanley. 



^ ., +, ,, ». 




XXXVI. THE KANGAROO. 

WONDER if my young readers know the 
origin of the name kangaroo? When Cap- 
tain Cook first discovered Australia he saw 
some natives on the shore, one of them holding a 
dead animal in his hand. 

2. The captain sent a boat's crew ashore to pur- 
chase the animal, and finding, on receiving it, that it 
was a beast quite new to him, he sent the boatswain 
back to ask the natives its name. " What do you call 
this animal?" said the sailor to the native. The 
nati/e shook his head and answered, " Kan-ga-roo'," 
which means in Australian lingo, " I don't under- 
stand/' When the sailor returned to the ship the 
captain said, " Well, and what's the name of the ani- 
mal ? " " Please sir, the black party says it's a ' Kan- 
garoo.' " The beast has kept that name ev^r since. 



The Dogs of Constantinople. 339 



XXXVII. DOGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 




ONSTANTINOPLE is an immense dog ken- 
nel ; every one makes the remark as soon as 
he arrives. The dogs constitute a second 
population of the city, less numerous, but not less 
strange than the first. Everybody knows how the 
Turks love and protect them ; and many provide for 
them in their wills, as they do for the birds. 

2. Not one of the innumerable dogs of Constanti- 
nople has a master. They therefore form a great 
vagabond republic, collarless, nameless, houseless, 
and lawless. The street is their abode, there they 
dig little dens, where they sleep, eat, and die; no 
one thinks of disturbing their occupations or their 
repose. 

3. They are masters of the highways. While in 
our cities it is the dog that makes way for the 
horseman or the foot passenger, there it is the peo- 
ple, the horses, the camels, and the donkeys that 
make way for the dogs. 

4. In the most frequent ed parts of Stam'boul four 
or five dogs, curled up asleep in the middle of the 
road, will cause the entire population of a quarter to 
turn out of the way for half a day. They are with 
difficulty disturbed even when in a crowded street a 
carriage with four horses is seen coming like the 
wind ; then, at the very last moment, they rise and 
transport their lazy bones a foot or two out of the 
way — just enough to save their lives. 



34-0 The Dogs of Constantinople. 

5. Laziness is the distinctive trait of the dogs of 
Constantinople. They lie down in the middle of 
the road, five, six, ten in a line, or in a ring, curled up 
so that they look more like tow-mats than animals, 
and there they sleep the whole day through, among 
throngs of people coming and going, and neither 
cold, nor heat, nor sunshine can move them. When 
it snows they stay under the snow ; when it rains 
they lie down in the mud up to their ears. 

6. The canine population of Constantinople is di- 
vided into quarters or wards. Every quarter, every 
street is inhabited or rather possessed by a certain 
number of dogs which never go away from it, and 
never allow strangers to reside in it. 

7. They exercise a kind of service of police. They 
have their guards, their advanced posts, their senti- 
nels ; they go the rounds and make explorations. 

8. Woe to any dog of another quarter which, 
pushed by hunger, shall risk himself within the terri- 
tory of his neighbors ! A crowd of curs fall upon 
him at once, and if they catch him, it is all over 
with him ; if they cannot catch him, they chase him 
furiously as far as his own domain', watching care- 
fully, however, not to venture a single step beyond 
the understood boundary line. 

De Amicis. 




Insects. 



341 




Insects : Common House-fly, Mosquito, Butterfly, Beetle* 
Caterpillar, Grasshopper. 



XXXVIII. ABOUT INSECTS. 

1. Insects are everywhere about us. They 
are in great numbers and of great variety. 
They are in the air, in the water, and all over 
the Earth. 

2. Those we know the best are the House- 
fly, the Butterfly, the Mosquito, the Cat- 
erpillar, the Grasshopper, and the Beetle. 

. 3. Besides these, there are thousands upon 
thousands so small that they cannot be seen 
with the naked eye. There is scarcely a leaf 
on a tree that is not the home of myriads of 
these little beings. 

4. If you should look at a drop of water with 
the aid of a microscope, you would be amazed 



Caterpillar — Chrysalis. 



Caterpillar. Cocoon. Butterfly. 

Blackboard Drawing:: An Insect and its Changes. 

to see the number and variety of living crea- 
tures which it contains; some swimming like 
fish or eels, some jumping like frogs, and some 
dragging their bodies lazily along. 

5. Just think of ten thousand (10,000) occupying the 
space of a grain of sand. Creatures which are so small 
as to be invisible, or nearly so, to the naked eye, are called 
An-i-mal'cules. 

6. Insects are of many kinds ; some have to 
creep about all their lives ; some creep only 
for a little while, like the Caterpillar, and then 
undergo changes, taking to themselves beauti- 
ful wings. 

7. The Caterpillar is the form which the 
insect takes just after leaving the egg ; after a 
while it spins or makes for itself a kind of 
case or covering, called a cocoon ; the insect 
is then called a Chrysalis. After remaining a 



Destructweness of Insects, 343 

while thus enclosed, this cocoon bursts open, 
and out comes a beautiful Butterfly, changed 
from what was, only a short time before, a slow, 
crawling, and repulsive looking Worm. 

8. So, you see that the forms and changes of such 
Insects are — ist, the Egg; 2d, the Worm, Grub or Cater- 
pillar ; 3d, the Chrysalis ; and 4th, the Butterfly, or perfect 
Insect. 

9. Some kinds of Insects are very trouble- 
some and often do great damage to trees and 
plants. You all know how soon one or two 
Caterpillars can eat up all the leaves of a little 
plant or bush in your garden, and that swarms 
of Grasshoppers or Locusts have in a few 
hours eaten up acres upon acres of growing 
corn, besides grass and vegetables. 

10. The increase in the numbers of Insects is 
wonderfully rapid ; indeed, if it were not for 
the multitudes of the busy birds whose food 
consists wholly or mainly of Insects, man might 
be unable to prevent the entire destruction of 
his orchards and his crops. 

11. Great numbers of Insects are devoured by other 
Insects, and also by Toads, Frogs, and Ground Moles. 

12. You must not think, however, that all 
Insects, Caterpillars and Butterflies are our 
enemies, for there are some kinds that are con- 
stantly at work for us. 



344 Silkworm — Cochineal. 

13. All the beautiful silk dresses, handker- 
chiefs and ribbons are made from the material 
which formed the case or cocoon of a Cater- 
pillar, called the Silkworm. 

14. The Silkworm is hatched from an egg about the 
size of a mustard seed ; it eats the leaves of the mulberry 
tree, its only food, and grows rapidly. In two or three 
weeks it begins to spin a very fine silken thread, which it 
winds round and round itself until a ball, the size and 
shape of a pigeon's egg, is formed. 

15. When it is done spinning, the silk must be carefully 
and promptly unwound, or the Butterfly would burst the 
cocoon and thus spoil the silk. To prevent this the 
cocoons are sometimes placed in hot water or in a hot 
oven, to kill the worm. By means of steam or* hot vapor, 
the threads are loosened so that they may be easily 
unwound and the Silkworm saved. The manufacturer 
usually puts ten or twelve of these threads together to 
make one which would be strong enough for use in the 
factory. 

16. It is not a little singular that this beautiful article 
thus made by one Insect receives its bright crimson 
and scarlet colors from another, the Cochineal Bug of 
Mexico. 

17. The Silkworm is raised chiefly in China, Japan, 
France, Italy, and California. The Silkworm and other 
Caterpillars breathe through several openings in their 
sides. 

18. Next to the Silkworm, the Insect which is the most 
useful to man is the Bee, which gives us delicious honey. 
This the Bees gather from nearly all flowers, and store 
away in nice little waxen cells, all of their own making. 




Bees — How They Work. 345 

19. Honey-bees are of three kinds: the 
Queens, the Working-bees, and the Drones. 

20. The Queen-bee is the ruler of the hive — 

and the mother of all the young 
Bees in it. 

21. The Workers are very 
intelligent and industrious. They 
A Beehlve * form themselves into companies. 
One division or company roams the fields and 
gardens in search of food ; another builds the 
cells ; another helps those which come back 
with heavy loads, or feed and nurse the young 
Bees. All make the most of their time, and 
of every inch of room, for their house answers 
both as nursery and storehouse. There are also 
house-cleaners, sentinels and fighters. Even in 
a single day they have been known to make 
4,000 cells. 

22. The royal cell which they build for their Queen, is 
made much larger than any of the others. 

23. When the cells are ready, the Queen lays in them a 
great many eggs, from each of which comes a larva, grub, 
or worm (see paragraph 8). The food of bees consists 
chiefly of pollen and sweet juices or fluids of flowers. 

24. The Workers have little brushes on their legs 
which also hold the pollen and otherwise help them in 
their work. They have feelers or arms which enable them 
to work and feel their way in the dark. By these feelers 
they seem to tell one another the news of the day. If the 



346 Bees — Their Uses — Wasp — Hornet. 

Queen should die they select a young grub, which soon 
becomes their Queen. When the Queen and a number of 
her household agree to emigrate and form a new colony or 
"swarm," they select a new home, gather food, and make 
full preparations for the change. After bidding farewell 
to their brothers and sisters which remain in the old 
home, they fly away. Those left behind must select a 
new Queen or they all would die. 

25. The Drones (all males) are very lazy. They col- 
lect no honey, make no wax, build no cells. Most of 
them do nothing but eat honey which the workers collect. 
So, as winter comes on, the Workers get out of patience 
with their idleness and fly at them, sting them to death, 
and at once remove the dead bodies from the hive. 

26. The Working-bees live for several years. They 
are smaller and more numerous than the others. In a 
hive of 20,000 Bees, the Workers will number about 19,500. 
There is only one Queen for every hive. The Workers are 
assisted in building by a gummy or sticky substance which 
they gather from some trees. A Bee has four wings and 
six legs, and a kind of tongue or proboscis for gathering 
honey. All but the Drones have stings. 

27. Bees, by going from flower to flower, gathering and 
mixing the pollen or powder-like substance of flowers, 
increase the varieties of fruits, flowers and plants, and in 
this way, also, they are of great advantage to us. This 
last work seems to be all the Humble Bee is good for. 
It lays up no store of honey, usually builds in holes in the 
ground, and lives but one year. It does not associate 
with the Honey or Hive Bee. 

28. The Wasp and Hornet are somewhat similar to 
the Bee. They build and live in little cells of a paper- 



Ants — How They Live and Work, 347 

like substance, which they make from bark and plants. 
They have sharp stings, but do not gather honey or make 
wax like the Honey Bee. 

29. Ants resemble Bees in their habits of 
order and industry, and in being divided into 
three kinds, Males, Females, and Workers. 

30. The Ant Workers have charge of the 
eggs, cocoons, and young Ants, as well as of 
the house affairs. 

31. If overtaken by a storm, or if their nests should be 
destroyed, their first duty is to save their eggs or young, 
and they are seen running to and fro with these little 
things in their mouths in search of places of safety for 
them. The workers have no wings ; the others have for 
a time, but soon lose them. 

32. The Common Ants are the Red and the 
Black ; some have wings, others have none. 

33. Ants of the same family or kind live 
together in great harmony, and are never weary 
of helping each other. If one is tired or sick, 
another will take him upon his back and ten- 
derly carry him. 

34. Although these little creatures make no sound, they 
seem to understand each other perfectly. By means of 
their feelers they give orders, directions and invitations, 
call for food, or discuss family affairs. 

35. Their little jaws are hard and sharp, serving them 
as axe, scissors, pincers and sword. 



348 Grasshoppers — Locusts ', Etc. 

36. Ants come forth in myriads about the 
first of April. Four or five months of the year 
that the Ant is supposed to live, some kinds 
spend in a torpid state. 

37. Battles are sometimes fought between the different 
families or tribes, desperate battles, too ; for although of 
a peaceful nature, they will not submit to imposition. 
Some are very thievish and do not stop with stealing the 
food of a neighboring tribe, but they seize also their eggs 
or their young ones, and carry them into captivity to 
become slaves to them. Then the injured Ants levy war. 
They form themselves into companies, battalions, and 
divisions, and station sentinels as soldiers do. Army 
meets army, they fight bravely and desperately ; they kill 
and wound each other, punish spies and deserters, carry 
off prisoners and spoils, and when the battle is over they 
take care of the sick and wounded. 

38. The Grasshopper is of the same order 
of Insects as the Locust, Cricket and Katydid, 
having long bodies, four wings, and three pairs 
of legs. Their food is grass and the leaves of 
plants. 

39. Grasshoppers are of great variety ; some 
are green, some black, and some variegated. 
Some make a chirping sound and some are. 
always silent. 

40. Their hind legs are much longer and stronger than 
the others, and are admirably fitted for jumping or 
leaping. 



Grasshopper — Locust, Etc. 349 

41. It is the male Grasshopper which does all the 
chirping. He does not, however, chirp or sing as a bird 
does, with his voice or his throat. He makes his peculiar 
sound with his wings, and partly, some people say, with 
his legs and a kind of little drum or cymbal. 

42. In the autumn, the mother Grasshopper bores or 
digs little holes in the ground and lays a great many eggs 
in them, and on the approach of frost she dies. The eggs 
remain there all winter and are hatched out by the warm 
sun of spring. For a while the young ones hop only, and 
seem to be without wings, but these are really concealed 
on their sides and appear when the time comes. 

43. Locusts are the most destructive of this 
kind of Insects. They fly in vast numbers, like 
clouds which hide the sun, and come down on 
the growing crops of spring as fast and as num- 
berless as snowflakes in a winter's storm. 

44. Their visits in Western Asia and Northern Africa 
are terrible, for they are sure to leave famine and desola- 
tion behind them. The Locusts, called also Grasshop- 
pers, which they resemble, have at times done great dam- 
age to the corn of some of our Northwestern States and 
Territories. 

45. Locusts are sold in the markets of Europe, Asia 
and Africa as an article of food. 

46. The "Seventeen-year Locust" (more 
correctly called Harvest Fly) has a thicker 
body and shorter legs than the L-ocust or the 
Grasshopper. It flies, but does not leap. 



350 Harvest Fly — Cricket — Mosquito. 

47. These Insects lay their eggs in the twigs of trees, 
and then die. From the eggs are hatched, during the 
same summer, little six-legged worms, so small that it 
would take sixteen of them to measure one inch in length. 
These remain in the ground seventeen years, feeding on 
the juices of roots. At the end of that time they enclose 
themselves in a shell or case, then crawl up tne trunks 
and branches of trees, to which they cling until their shell 
or dry skin bursts open \ and, finding themselves provided 
with wings, they fly away. 

48. Crickets belong to the same order of 
Insects as the Locusts and Grasshoppers. They 
can dig underground passages for themselves, 
and their long hind legs enable them to take 
long leaps. 

49. House Crickets and Field Crickets are deadly 
enemies to each other; in fact, Crickets generally are 
very quarrelsome and are always ready for a fight. In 
Germany, mis'chievous boys get up pitched battles between 
them, when these warlike Insects kick like horses, butt 
like rams, and scratch like cats, until one or the other 
runs away or is disabled. 

50. One of the most annoying Insects is the 
Mosquito, which has a long, slender body, six 
legs, and two wings. It has also a little pro- 
boscis for piercing and sucking. This contains 
several lancets so small and so sharp that 
together they are finer and sharper than a 
needle. 



Mosquito — Dragon Fly. 351 

51. Mosquitoes are produced from eggs which float on 
the water. When these are hatched they are little worms 
and seem to hang from the surface of the water head 
downward, when they are called u Wigglers." They change 
their skins several times, then become a kind of Chrysalis 
in a little case or cocoon, which, like the Caterpillar, they 
soon burst, and, drying their newly found wings, they fly 
away into the air in search of food. 

52. They find their food in the dew and in the juices 
of flowers and plants. Some kinds are active by day, 
others by night. Those which attack man and beast for 
blood are the females only. The " Wigglers " feed raven- 
ously on the animalcules in ponds and marshes, and thus 
aid in purifying the water. 

53. The eggs become perfect Insects in three weeks, 
and many broods are hatched even' warm season. 

54. Mosquitoes infest forests and marshy places in 
every country and in every climate ; in cold Siberia and 
Lapland, as well as in the hot valley of the Amazon. 

55. The Gxat, House Fly, and Ox Fly belong to the 
same order of Insects as the Mosquito. 

56. The Dragon Fly has a long, slender 
body and four long, narrow wings. 

57. Its thin, crisp wings are as clear as glass, 
reflecting all the colors of the rainbow, and 
seem to be in rapid and almost constant mo- 
tion. While flying, it catches multitudes of 
Mosquitoes, Gnats, Beetles, Flies, and other 
Insects. 




Blackboard Drawing-: Honey Bee, length of body, half inch; 
Dragon Fly, 3 inches. 

58. They are therefore beneficial, and not in 
the least injurious to man or child (although it 
bears, in some places, the frightful name of 
" Devil's Darning Needle "). 

59. It undergoes changes from the egg to the worm 
and the chrysalis, in the water, occupying two „ years. 
When its wings are ready, it rises above its old home in 
the marsh or the pool, to fly, shine, chase, kill, eat, and 
die, all in a single season. 

60. Butterflies, like other Insects which 
fly, have two long, slender horns or feelers, 
which they can turn in every direction. 

61. When they lay their eggs, they fasten them to some 
plant or leaf, with a sort of glue of their own making. 
There they remain until hatched into a kind of worm, 
which is called a caterpillar if it has legs, or a grub if it 
has no legs. 

62. The Caterpillar eats enormously, grows 
rapidly, and often changes its skin. 



Caterpillar — House Fly. 353 

63. When about six weeks old it stops eating, and 
covers itself with a kind of cobweb or cocoon, which it 
fastens to a convenient branch. There it hangs as a 
chrysalis, until it bursts the case and sails into the air on 
beautifully colored wings to spend the rest of its short life 
in flitting among flowers and blossoms and sipping honey. 

64. The microscope shows that the wings of the But- 
terfly are covered with numberless little scales of every 
variety of form and color, and that its eyes are composed 
of a great many smaller eyes. 

65. Butterflies generally live but one season, 
although some live through the winter. 

66. The House Fly has two wings, six legs, 
a sucking proboscis for taking its food, and two 
great eyes which are composed of 4,000 small 
eyes. 

67. Its feet are remarkably formed to enable it to 
creep up smooth surfaces like glass or on ceilings. 

68. It holds on by means of a gum or sticky substance 
with which its feet are supplied ; some say it holds on by 
means of sharp little hooks on the feet ; and others say its 
feet, when pressed against glass or the ceiling, form vacu- 
ums, and that the fly is held on by the pressure of the air 
(as explained on page 119). 

69. Most Flies die when frost comes ; but some of 
those which hide away in warm nooks and corners live 
just long enough to lay a great many eggs the next sum- 
mer. 'In a few hours these eggs are hatched into little 
grubs which, in a few days, become flies. 



354 



Perseverance 



XXXIX. BRUCE AND THE SPIDER. 




OR Scotland's and for freedom's right, 
The Bruce his part had played 
In five successive fields of fight, 

Been conquered and dismayed ; 
Once more against the English host 
His band he led, and once more lost 

The meed for which he fought ; 
And now from battle, faint and worn, 
The homeless fugitive forlorn 

A hut's lone shelter sought. 

And cheerless was that resting-place 

For him who claimed a throne : 
His canopy, devoid of grace, 

The rude, rough beams alone; 
The heather couch his only bed, — 
Yet well I wean had slumber fled 

From couch of eider-down ! 
Through darksome night till dawn of day 
Absorbed in wakeful thought he lay 

Of Scotland and her crown. 

The sun rose brightly, and its gleam 

Fell on that hapless bed, 
And tinged with light each shapeless beam 

Which roofed the lowly shed ; 
When, looking up with wistful eye 
The Bruce beheld a spider try 



Taught by a Spider. 355 

His filmy thread to fling 
From beam to beam of that rude cot ; 
And well the insect's toilsome lot 

Taught Scotland's future king. 

Six times his gossamery thread 

The wary spider threw ; 
In vain the filmy line was sped, 

For powerless or untrue 
Each aim appeared, and back recoiled 
The patient insect, six times foiled, 

And yet unconquered still ; 
And soon the Bruce, with eager eye, 
Saw him prepare once more to try 

His courage, strength, and skill. 

One effort more, his seventh and last ! 

The hero hailed the sign ! 
And on the wished-for beam hung fast 

That slender, silken line ; 
Slight as it was, his spirit caught 
The more than omen, for his thought 

The lesson well could trace, 
Which even " he who runs may read," 
That Perseverance gains its meed, 

And Patience wins the race. 





356 A Queens Visit to King Solomon. 



XL. KING SOLOMON AND THE BEES. 

HEN Solomon was reigning in his glory, 

Unto his throne the Queen of Sheba came, 
(So in the Talmud you may read the story), 
Drawn by the magic of the monarch's fame, 
To see the splendors of his court, and bring 
Some fitting tribute to the mighty king. 

Nor this alone ; much had her highness heard 

What flowers of learning graced the royal speech ; 

What gems of wisdom dropped with every word ; 
What wholesome lessons he was wont to teach 

In pleasing proverbs ; and she wished in sooth, 

To know if Rumor spoke the simple truth. 

And straight she held before the monarch's view, 
In either hand, a radiant wreath of flowers ; 

The one bedecked with every charming hue, 

Was newly culled from Nature's choicest bowers ; 

The other, no less fair in every part, 

Was the rare product of divinest Art. 

" Which is the true, and which the false?" she said. 

Great Solomon was silent. All amazed, 
Each wondering courtier shook his puzzled head, 

While at the garlands long the monarch gazed, 
As one who sees a miracle, — and fain, 
For very rapture, ne'er 1 would speak again. 

1 Ne'er, uare. 



Problem Solved by the Bees. 357 

"Which is the true?" once more the woman asked, 
Pleased at the fond amazement of the king, 

" So wise a head should not be hardly tasked, 
Most learned liege, 1 with such a trivial thing ! " 

But still the sage was silent, it was plain 

A deepening doubt perplexed the royal brain. 

While thus he pondered, presently he sees, 
Hard by the casement, — so the story goes — 

A little band of busy, bustling bees, 
Hunting for honey in a withered rose. 

The monarch smiled, and raised his royal head ; 

" Open the window ! " — that was all he said. 

The window r opened at the king's command ; 

Within the room the eager insects flew, 
And sought the flowers in Sheba's dexter 2 hand! 

And so the king and all the courtiers 3 knew 
That wreath was nature's ; and the baffled queen 
Returned to tell the wonders she had seen. 

My story teaches (every tale should bear 
A fitting moral) that the wise may find 

In trifles light as atoms in the air, 

Some useful lesson to enrich the mind ; 

Some truth designed to profit or to please, — 

As Israel's king learned wisdom from the bees ! 

John G. Saxe. 

1 Liege, leej, sovereign. 

2 Dexter hand, right hand. 

3 Courtier, korfyer, member of a princely court. 



WORDS IN COMMON USE WHICH ARE 
OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED. 



EXPLANATION OF MARKS. 



a as in fate ; a as in fat. 
a as in far ; a as in fair, 
e" as in meet ; § as in mSn. 
I as in pine ; I as in pin. 



as in Old ; 5 as in 5n. 
1i as in Use ; & as in us. 
g as in go ; g as in gem. 
th as in there ; th as in thin. 



[These pronunciations are all according to Webster.] 



Ab-do'men, not ab'. 
Ab'ject-ly, not ject'. 
Ab-ste'mi-ous, not stem' 
Ac-cli'mate, not ac'. 
Acoustics, a-kow'stix, not koo. 
A-cr8ss', not krawst. 
Ad-dress 7 , not ad'. 
Ad'mi-ra-ble, not mi'. 
Adult 7 , not ad'ult. 
Ad'verse, not verse 7 . 
Ad-ver-tise', not ad-vert'is. 
A'er-o-lite, not a-er'. 
Again, a-gen', not a-gain. 
Agile, aj'il, not a-jile. 
Al'a-bas-ter, not al-a-bas'ter. 
Al-bu'men, not al'. 
Al'ge-bra, not bra. 
Almond, a'mund. 
Alms, amz. 
Al-pac'a, not al-a. 
A-nem'o-ne, not mo 7 . 
Anew, a-nu, not a-noo. 
Ap-pa-ra'tus, not rat'. 
A'pex, not ap'ex. 
Apostle, a-pos'sl, not stle. 
Apricot, a'pri-cot, not ap'. 
Aqueduct, ak'we-dukt, not duk. 
Ar'ab, not a'rab. 
Ar'a-bic. 



Architect, ar'ki-tect, not artsh. 

Arctic, ark'tik, no; ar'tik. 

Arid, not a'rid. 

Armistice, ar'mis-tis. 

Aspirant, as-plr'ant. 

Ath-e-ne'um. 

Au-da'cious, not dash'. 

Aunt, ant. 

Bade, bad, not bad. 

Bar'rel, not bar!. 

Been, bin. 

Begone, gon, not gawn. 

Be-queath', not queath. 

Bi-tu'men, not bit'. 

Blasphemous, blas'femus, not 

fe'. 
Bombast, biim'bast. 
Bombazine, bum-ba-zeen'. 
Bouquet, boo-ka', not bo. 
Bowsprit, b5, not bou. 
Brethren, not breth'er-en. 
Brig'and, not brig-and'. 
Biir'gun-dy, not gun'. 
Calf, kaf. 

Cal'is-then-ics, not cal-is'. 
Calliope, kal-ll'o- pe, not kal', 
Calm, kam, not kam. 
Ca-nlne', not ca'. 
Car'bine, not been. 



Words often Mispronounced. 359 



Ca'ret, not ca'. 
Car-ib-be'an, not rib'. 
Cartridge, not cat. 
Cem'e-ter-y, not try. 
Cen-trip'e-tal, not pe'tal. 
Chasten, cha'sn. 
Chim-pan'zee, not zee'. 
Chirography, ki-rog'ra-phy, not 

tshi. 
Choc'o-late. 
Cincinnati, te, not tah. 
Cocoa, ko'ko. 
Coffee, not cauf. 
Coffin, 7iot cauf. 
Col-os-se'um. 
Cbm'bat-ant, not bat 7 . 
Com'bat-ive, 

Comely, kum'ly, not kome. 
Com'mu-nist, not mu'. 
Ccm'pa-ra-ble, ?wt par'. 
Con-spir'a-cy, not con-spi'ra-cy. 
Corral, not co'ral. 
Courier,, koo're-er, not kur'. 
Cu'po-la, not lo. 
De-bris, da-bre'. 
Dec'ade, not ade'. 
Deficit, def'i-sit, not de-fis'it. 
Draught, draft. 
Drought, drout. 
Dy'nas-ty, not nas'. 
Elm, not erum. 
Ewe, y.u. 
Fi-nance', not fi'. 
Financier, ffn-an-seer'. 
Flo'rist, not flor'. 
Forbade, bad, not bad. 
Gon'do-la, not gondola. 
Gov'ern-ment, not guv'er-munt. 
Grievous, grev'us, not grev-i-us. 
Gri-mace', not grim'. 
Gua'no. 



Gypsum, jip'sum, 

Har'ass. 

Haunt, hant, not hant. 

Hearth, harth, not hurth. 

Heinous, ha'nus, not bee'. 

Herb, erb. 

Her'o-ine, in, not Ine. 

Ho-ri'zon, not hor'. 

Hos'pi-ta-ble, not pit'. 

Hostler, os'ler. 

Hy-drop'a-thy. 

I-de'a, not i'de-a. 

Ig-no-ra'mus. 

Il-lus'trate, not il'. 

In-dis'pu-ta-ble, not pu'. 

In'sects, not sex. 

Inveigle, in-ve'gl. 

Is'o-late, not i'so. 

Juvenile, nil, not nlle. 

Kiln, kil. 

Laugh, laf, not laf. 

Laundry, lan'dry , not Ian. 

Leisure, le'zhur. 

Lev-ee', a morning party. 

Lev'ee, high bank of a river. 

Ly-ce'um. 

Ma-ni'a-cal. 

Mar'i-time, tim, not time. 

Ma'tron, not mat'. 

May'or-al-ty, not al'i ty. 

Memoir, mem'wor, or me'mwor. 

Mis'chievous, not cheev'. 

Mon'o-gram, not mo-no. 

Mu-nic'i-pal, nis', not sip'. 

Museum, mii-ze'um, not mu'. 

Mush'room, not roon. 

Mus-tache', not mus'. 

Ne'er (never), nare, not neer. 

Neu-ral'gi-a, ral'je-a, not ral'i-ja. 

New, nti, not noo. 

Nom'ad, not no'mad. 



360 Words often Mispronounced. 



None, nun, not nfine. 
Nothing, Dtith'ing, not noth'in. 
Obeisance, o-bay'sance. 
Ob'elisk, not o'be. 
Ob'se-quies, not ob 
Office, office, not au'fllS. 
Official, of-fish'al, not <~>-ti sli'al . 
O-le-o-mar'ga-rine, g not j. 
Ominous, 6m'i Dou 
On'er-ous, not 0'. 
Onyx, O'nyx, not rm'. 
Op-po'nent, not op". 
Or'de-al, not or-de'al. 
Ostler, 6s1er. 
Ostrich, us-ti i< h, n 
Palm, pam, not pam. 
Pa-pa', not p&] 
Pa'tron, ;/<>/ pi 
Pecuniary, pe-k fme'vah re. 
Pianoforte, j la. 

Pin'cers, ;/,7 chers. 
Piquant, pik'ant 
Ple-be'ian, 
Poignant, pni'n.mt. 
Po-made, not mid. 
Poniard, //<>/ poin'. 
Possess, p6l /cs', ;.-, 7 pr»-zcs. 
Prbd'uce, //<>/ prO', 
PrSg'ress, not prO', 
Psyche, slice. 
Pur-sue', //<>/ son 
Py-ram'i-dal. 
Quar'rel, not quarl. 
Quay, ke. 
Quoit, not quite. 
Reptile, til, not tile. 



Ro-mance', not ro'. 

Ruffian, ruf'yan. 

S&c'ra-me 

Salmon, sam'un 

Sanguine nine, 

Sar-sa-pa-nll.t 

Satyr, sa'tur. 

Sau'cy, ;. 

Saunter, 

Sau 'sage. 

Serge a 
Servile, vil, 
Sl'ne-cure. 

Sirup. 
Soften, m 

Stii'pid, > 

Sub-due'. 

r'flll-OUS, ;;,/ till'. 

Suppl 

Tas'se^ ;. 

Taunt, tftnt, > VOL 

Tiib tri'. 

Trousseau. 

Tu'lip, 

Tune, 

Typhus, t 

Ull-l! 

Ve he-mence, not 

With, not with 
Withe, not wit 
Yacht. 
Z6-ol'o-gy, not zoo 



Take care to distinguish between lie* and la\ , sit and M'l, in 
and Into. When you lay the hook on the table, then the hook 
lies on the table. Whfjf you set tip ckairai the table, you may *il 

down on it. Water is ilWfce pitcher ^SpinVctt of it into v.uiri;! 



hen vo 



